Unleashed
by The Silent Scream
Summary: Struck by their opponent's final spell, Pat finds herself cut off from all emotions, an unpleasant state which soon has far worse consequences than any of the gang could have imagined. While having to handle her lover's predicament, Willow also has to find out how to undo it, and go up against the one responsible for it. Willow / OC est. relationship.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Since I won't be here tomorrow, starting the new one a day early… and I hope it'll make up for the cliffhanger I left you with ;)

Disclaimer: None of the characters used from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer are mine. Just borrowing them a bit to play around a little.

* * *

Unleashed

"So… did you have time to…", Willow started as she entered the living room where her partner was standing at the window, having a smoke and looking outside, her voice making her turn to her though, a sigh escaping her before she replied. "Time for some soul-searching? Yeah. Still the same."

Giving her best to appear brave and not as if those words were hurting worse than any injury she ever had suffered, Willow nodded, stopping a few feet away from the taller woman; all at once she felt awkward, a feeling she never had had in Pat's presence before, not even when they had started to get to know each other and had started flirting over books at college and drinks in the Bronze.

"I didn't even know that's possible", the demon mumbled, giving her a pained look; all the wounds she had taken during the last few hours had hurt, but none of those had made her feel as bad as looking at the dejected expression on Willow's face and, at the same time, not able to find that certain feeling within herself anymore, the love which had made her drop her former line of work and had been the cause for her stay in Sunnydale.

"Buffy said she'll tell Giles", Willow replied, wanting nothing more than move closer to her and be pulled into an embrace; she knew that, if she'd walk up to Pat and hug her, the taller woman would probably return the embrace, but her heart wouldn't be in it, and she didn't want to get held out of mere sympathy.

"Do you feel anything when you think of him?" she asked instead, playing with the hem of her blouse nervously, without even noticing that she was doing it; the black haired woman remained silent for a while in reply, then shook her head, prompting Willow to wonder if this was good or bad – it meant that not just the demon's love for her had been somehow taken away by the final spell of the man who had been after her for vengeance, but possibly all other feelings for their friends, as well.

"What about Buffy?" she wanted to know, "what do you feel when you think of her?"

"Nothing", Pat let her know, feeling awkward as well – she never would have thought that there'd be a moment when she'd look at Willow and not feel her heart swell up with love for her, and now here she was, looking into the smaller woman's emerald eyes and feeling nothing at all.

"Same about Anya, Xander, and Dawn", she went on before the witch could ask her, "it's all… gone."

"There'll be some kind of counterspell", Willow told her after considering this for a moment, not sure whom she wanted to convince more, the demon or herself, "then it'll all be the way it was before… before he…"

Finally, after hours of doing so well, she lost the fight against her tears, and a racked sob escaped her as she momentarily squeezed her eyes shut in one last effort to hold them back; now feeling more awkward than ever, Pat just stood there, knowing that under normal circumstances, she would have moved closer to hug her now, but after the strange spell she had been hit with, not the slightest feeling stirred within her, not even when the redhead continued crying, seemingly powerless against the flow of tears.

_Don't be an ass, now, _she then told herself, _even if that stupid spell had such a nasty effect, at least try to comfort her. _

"Hey", she thus said, giving her best to sound reassuring even though it suddenly was quite hard, since she just couldn't bring herself to care about the fact that her girlfriend was crying, "there'll be some counterspell, as you said, so it'll be okay…"

Even though the sight of the crying redhead still didn't cause any emotion within her, she moved closer and pulled her into an embrace; for a moment, Willow stiffened, clearly well aware of the lack of feelings from her partner, then shrugged it off and returned the hug, letting the taller woman hold her until her tears slowly ceased.

"Sorry", Willow then mumbled, pulling back from the embrace, "you're right, we will figure something out… Until then, I suppose we'll just have to handle this the best we can."

"I could try faking, if that'd help", Pat offered, not sure what else to say; giving her a weak smile, Willow shook her head, moving over to the couch and sitting down on it, the demon taking a seat next to her after a moment and lighting up a cigarette, having to admit that the witch was making a good point when she spoke up. "I'd know you're faking, and I don't want to force you into doing this…"

"I wish this wasn't so awkward", Pat sighed, taking a drag of her cigarette to win some time before she went on, her words making the redhead smile weakly, "and I wish this hadn't happened, whatever exactly he did. Seems like some sort of nasty goodbye present, huh?"

"Indeed", Willow agreed with a sigh, "he really thought this through, he must have known he wouldn't really stand a chance against all of us…"

"I would have thought he's too insane for that, to be honest", Pat shrugged, "but unfortunately, he wasn't."

"How does it feel?" Willow wanted to know in reply after thinking about how to word this question for a moment, "when you look at me now, is it… are you just empty…?"

"Kind of", Pat let her know, holding back the urge to shift on the couch as all at once, she was feeling awkward again, "it's hard to describe actually, I mean, I still remember what I felt for you just a few hours ago, but that's it, just memories… Right now, all I feel is awkward. I never would have thought I'd feel this way when I look at you."

"Same here", the redhead sighed, "good thing that guy is dead already or I'd kill him all over again for doing this to you… to us."

"We'll figure something out", Pat promised in reply, giving her best to hide her indifference about the whole situation from her partner, not wanting to upset her again, "but for now, I guess we should get some rest, it's been quite the tiring day, what with getting beaten up and everything."

"Yeah", the witch agreed, "now that you've mentioned it, I'm feeling quite tired. We can start hitting the books about this tomorrow."

Nodding, the demon finished her cigarette and got up from the couch; for a moment, she wondered if she should suggesting that she'd sleep there, then shrugged the thought off, telling herself that this surely would upset the redhead again and she didn't want any more tears to fall, figuring that Willow had cried enough for one night.

"Let's just hope we'll figure this out fast", the witch sighed as she made her way into the bedroom with the taller woman; nodding again, Pat quickly changed into her pyjama and then laid down, the witch doing the same a moment later, taking the time to wish her partner a good night before she rolled over and, to her relief, quickly drifted off into sleep, her rest plagued by diffuse nightmares until the next morning dawned.


	2. Chapter 2

In the next morning, they met Buffy and Dawn at Giles' place; since the Magic Box had to be kept open, Anya hadn't been able to make it, and Xander was still not secure enough on his feet to come along, staying at Buffy's place instead while the small rest of the gang met.

"I've looked into spells which can control or dampen feelings", Giles let them know after they all had made themselves comfortable and the Watcher had served tea and coffee, "and, unfortunately, there are several which have such an effect."

"And my feelings aren't just controlled, or dampened", Pat pointed out, "they're just… gone. At least all feelings of friendship and, um, love."

"What are you feeling right now?" Giles wanted to know in reply, giving her a curious look over the rim of his glasses; she shrugged, again having trouble with voicing the sudden emptiness inside her, but giving her best to do so, knowing it was necessary for the Brit to know as much as possible if he wanted to help her.

"Nothing", she thus said, shrugging again when he raised an eyebrow, "it's like I don't know any of you and don't see why I should care about any of you. Sorry, Willow…"

"It's not your fault", Willow let her know in reply, fighting hard to hide how much those words had hurt her, "it's that stupid spell... Damn, I wish I knew which one exactly he used, but that'll be hard to find out, if not impossible."

"Indeed", Giles sighed, "Buffy, you should go through his hideout once more, see if you can find any books that might help."

"Will do", Buffy agreed at once, "at least I'm not in danger anymore of getting my ass kicked there, seeing that he's dead."

"You should have listened to me when I told you not to kill him", Giles primly replied, giving Pat a strict look which clearly had no effect at all on her though, "if you had left him alive, the spell maybe never would have been activated."

"Oh, and he would have gone to prison, I suppose, and gotten back out after a while to try again", the demon snarked in reply, looking smug for a moment when Giles had no response to that; then, the feeling vanished, just like any other she'd had ever since that spell had hit her, and the expression vanished from her face, being replaced by the indifferent look she had shown most of the time since the magic had taken effect.

"How long has it been since this spell hit?" Giles now changed the topic, looking at her curiously, "tell me as precisely as possible, if you can."

"Well", Pat gave back, checking her watch, "about nine hours, I guess. Willow?"

"Yeah, that's about it", the witch agreed, "counting the time we had to go back from that dreadful abandoned house where he took you and the sleep… Twelve to thirteen hours."

"Some of these spells are temporal, which is why I asked", the Watcher explained in reply, "they last up to twenty-four hours. They often were used by great generals before battles, to make their soldiers fearless and also reckless."

"Charming", Buffy commented, "so it might just poof away again and, boom, Pat gets her feelings back? That sounds too good to be true."

"Indeed it does", the redhead sighed, "and he wouldn't use such a spell if it's his final strike against her, right? He'd want something permanent."

"Yes", Giles had to agree, "which is why we need to find out which spell exactly he used, in case it is not temporal. Buffy, I suggest you get there as fast as possible and have a look around."

"Hey, his hiding place is in our apartment building", Pat remembered in reply, giving the Brit a curious look, "why don't we just go there and look?"

"Because I'd like you to stay here", Giles replied at once, "so I can try some spells and… tests."

"Tests?" the demon echoed, giving him a curious look, "you won't hook up me to machines or anything, right?"

"No, of course not", Giles gave back, raising an eyebrow, "have you ever seen me do that before? There are a few other things I want to try though, and for the spells, I'll need your help, Willow."

"Of course", the redhead agreed at once, "whatever you need, I want this spell to get undone as fast as possible."

"Understandable", the Watcher replied, briefly smiling at her; then, he came to his feet and moved to several books he had readied, Buffy taking this as her cue to get up as well and let them know that she'd go and check Piretti's hideout for anything useful.

"Good luck", Willow gave back, making the blonde smile at her; then, she surprised everyone by asking Dawn if she wanted to come along, the teenager letting out a happy squeal as she practically shot to her feet, jumping at the opportunity Buffy was offering, well aware of how rare these were.

"Let's go, let's go", she nearly squeaked, bouncing up and down on the spot, to the amusement of Buffy, Willow and Giles – while Pat just remained indifferent, as she had most of the time -, making her sister nod in agreement, the blonde still taking the time to promise that they'd call the moment they'd find anything before they headed off and Giles raised one of his books, explaining the first spell he wanted to try to maybe resolve the situation much quicker than they thought now.

* * *

"Well, that didn't quite work out", Pat sighed two hours later as they were entering their apartment; Giles had made her sit through six spells and then had given her two potions to drink, but nothing had changed the emptiness inside her, and his try to figure out what kind of magic had been used with the help of a wooden talisman dangling around in front of her face hadn't really worked out, either.

"At least Buffy found a book", Willow gave back, smiling bravely at her, "hidden in the mattress, like all his documents and stuff, remember? Maybe something useful will be in that."

"Hopefully", Pat mumbled, finding her cigarettes and lighting one of them up; normally, she enjoyed smoking, but now, even that feeling was gone, and she only did it to avoid the discomfort of withdrawal.

"Because, as I said, I still remember it all", she then added, after the first long drag, "and I want that back."

"I'm glad to hear that", the redhead gave back with a weak smile, sitting down next to her, but keeping a slight distance, knowing that cuddling up wouldn't be appropriate right now – Pat had offered to fake everything until a solution had been found, but what she wanted was the real thing and not some show her partner put on to make her feel better.

"I can't even imagine what that must be like", she went on after a moment, watching the demon smoke, "I mean, even when I was… on the dark side, I still had feelings, you know? It was mostly anger and grief, but it was _something_."

"I'm not even sure I can get angry right now", the taller woman gave back, the indifference in her voice showing that she wasn't just making this up as she was going along, "but I suppose we shouldn't try to find out."

"Probably not", Willow agreed, then gave her a curious look before she went on, her question making the black haired woman raise an eyebrow. "Can you still flame up? Or demon out?"

"I suppose so", the demon let her know after a moment, "that never had anything to do with my emotions, I just tended to… let control slip faster whenever I got angry, hence the flames."

"Makes sense", the witch had to admit, "I guess that's something, just in case someone attacks us." For a moment, she wondered if the demon would even defend her in the case of an attack – after all, so far, her feelings for her had been her main motivation to go berserk on whoever harmed or merely threatened her, and with that gone, replaced by indifference, she suddenly wasn't sure anymore of her partner would still be willing to be her knight in shining armour.

"I'll still help in case someone attacks", Pat interrupted her musings, momentarily surprising her and making her wonder if her thoughts had been so obvious on her face, "no worries there. If only so Buffy won't kick my butt once I got my feelings back."

"Good to know", the redhead replied with a small smile; the demon briefly smiled back at her, making her wonder if that had been a genuine smile or if she had faked it – before the phone rang, distracting her and even making her jump a bit before she got up from her seat and took the call, slightly surprised to hear Buffy's voice on the other end of the line.

"Giles asked me to call you, he's still all busy with the book I found", the Slayer explained after greetings had been exchanged, "apparently, it's a really rare and expensive one. I wonder where Piretti got it."

"Yeah, me too", Willow agreed, frowning to herself as she asked herself if this was the only reason for the blonde's call, the Slayer speaking on a moment later though and answering that question before it could be asked.

"That's not why I'm calling though", she went on, now sounding a bit concerned, "Giles found the spell Piretti used, at least he thinks he did, there are several with that effect in the book, and he said that it's too difficult to cast for someone without a lot of magic experience, and nearly impossible to store within the caster's mind for a newbie. So he thinks…"

"…that Piretti had someone who helped him", Willow finished for her, making the demon look at her with a raised eyebrow, "and let me guess, Giles thinks this person might still be a danger to us."

"Yes", Buffy confirmed at once, "but he wants to focus on ridding your girlfriend of the spell first, he says that some of the emotion-influencing spells he found in the book have some quite unpleasant side effects."

"Like what?" Willow wanted to know, worried; she briefly looked at her partner, then focused on Buffy's voice again as the Slayer replied, now giving her best to sound reassuring. "He didn't list them all for me, but he told me that they'd take a few days to kick in, at least, so we still have more than enough time to figure out how to undo it. Giles wants you to come by tomorrow so you can check this out together."

"Yes, of course", the witch agreed at once, momentarily wondering if the Watcher really hadn't given Buffy any details about unpleasant side effects – or if he had and Buffy just didn't want to tell her, not wanting to upset her even more than the current situation already had.

"We'll be there tomorrow afternoon", she added, making Pat nod next to her, "I'd love to come earlier, but I really have to go to college and settle some stuff there, after being gone for so long…"

"Of course", Buffy agreed at once, "I'll tell Giles, no worries there, he'll understand. You know how he keeps telling me that education is important, and you are busy with those PhDs you wanna get, so…"

"Yeah, I need to settle a few things about those", the redhead confirmed, "so we'll drop by at Giles' place after I got done there, at around two I guess."

"That's fine with him", Buffy let her know after quickly asking the Watcher about exactly this, "and don't forget to bring your girl along."

"Of course not", Willow gave back, slightly indignant, "after all, it's all about her, how could I forget to bring her then? Will you be there, too?"

"Yup", Buffy replied, with a smile the redhead could practically hear through the line, "so see you later!"

"Later", the witch smiled, then ended the call and looked at her partner, asking her if she had got that all and if she was fine with what they had settled, relieved when the demon nodded her agreement at once.

"Of course", she then clarified verbally as well, "and I hope Giles figured something out until then, because this lack of feelings is really… well, I'd say it's annoying, but apparently, I can't feel that, either. I just don't like being this way."

"I'm sorry", Willow sighed in reply, pushing all thoughts about how her partner right now didn't love her anymore aside and moving closer to hug her, "it must be awful to be so… empty, but I'm sure we'll figure out how to get rid of this spell soon."

"I hope so", Pat grumbled, "at least, I think I do, it's hard to figure out with all that lack of feelings."

Nodding, Willow pulled back from the hug, momentarily hurt that the taller woman hadn't returned it; then, she told herself that it wasn't her fault, that she couldn't help the lack of feelings the spell had forced on her and that surely, she'd get all the cuddles she needed once it had been broken.

"Well", she said to break the uncomfortable silence which was forming between Pat and her, "I'm kinda hungry, so… you want to order something, or should we cook something?"

"Ordering's fine with me", the demon gave back, coming to her feet already to find the stash of various take-out menus they kept close to the phone, "what do feel like having? I don't really care."

"You don't even care which food you want to eat?" Willow demanded to know, sounding so surprised that it made Pat look at her, one of her eyebrows wandering up – before she shook her head, sounding patient when she replied. "I just meant that I'm willing to eat whatever you want to order, I don't have any special cravings right now."

"Okay", the redhead gave back, momentarily feeling a bit stupid; then, she shrugged that feeling off and told her partner that she felt like having pizza, making her nod while she found the proper takeout menus for that choice, making her way back to the couch afterwards, the couple quickly settling on the toppings they wanted before Willow made the call, her worries about her girlfriend's state and how long it might take to reverse it never quite leaving her mind.


	3. Chapter 3

The pizza was delivered surprisingly quickly, and eaten almost just as fast; afterwards, Pat lit up a cigarette again while Willow busied herself with readying everything she'd need for the next day at college, hoping that her professors wouldn't be too cross with her for her long absence – when it had become clear that she had to go to England again, she had told them that it was due to a family emergency and that she didn't know how long she'd have to stay, but being gone for almost a month had made her a miss a lot of classes and for once, she forgot her worries about her partner as she asked herself how much time she'd need to catch up.

"Man, I hope they'll go easy on me", she mumbled, more to herself than to her girlfriend, "I really must have missed a lot…"

"Yeah", Pat said next to her, sounding strangely detached, even more than she had ever since the spell had taken hold of her; still Willow didn't glance over at her, blaming the tone of her voice on the magic which was muting her emotions, a thought she quickly dropped though when she heard the taller woman let out a groan next to her.

"Pat?" she asked in worry, looking at her now, "are you okay…?"

"I don't think so", the demon gave back, to the witch's concern now sweating heavily, thick droplets running from her brow down her face, "I feel like… oh jeez!"

With the last two words, she came to her feet, then doubled over as if she was suffering from stomach cramps, groaning again; and seconds later, the sound of her clothing tearing and ripping echoed through the apartment, prompting Willow to jump up as well, her eyes going wide as she realized what was happening.

"Run", Pat panted out, only confirming her worst fear, "I'm losing control, you have to get out of here, run…!"

To the demon's obvious dismay, Willow was too shocked by what was happening to her to listen; whenever she had watched the transformation so far, it hadn't seemed as if it was painful for her partner, but now, it clearly did hurt her, as she groaned again and grit her teeth, her fists clenching tightly as she arched her back and let out a shockingly loud, inhuman growl.

The sound finally tore Willow out of her stupor, but by then, it was almost too late, a glowing red eye focusing on her as the demon bared sharp and pointy teeth, growling at her again; and suddenly, as her gaze met Pat's, the witch realized that her partner at least at the moment wasn't recognizing her, and she did the only thing that was left to her right now – she rushed into the kitchen and slammed the door shut behind herself, locking it just in time to keep Pat from following her, the door shaking in the frame when the now much more muscular body of the demon hit it.

"Oh Goddess", she brought out as the door trembled in the frame again when the demon hit it once more; she wondered for a moment if this was one of the side effects Buffy had been talking about, then pushed those thoughts aside, telling herself that she had to focus on getting out of here alive now.

With trembling hands, she dug out her cell phone, glad that she had kept in her pants pocket and hadn't put it into her bag; she nearly had troubles finding Buffy's number, since her hands were shaking so badly, along with the door as Pat crashed into once more, making the witch wonder how much longer the wood would hold while she hurriedly pushed the button which called the Slayer's cell, hoping and praying that she'd thought of taking it along to Giles' place and that she'd answer.

"Yes?" the blonde did so after the second ring, to her great relief; before she could say anything, Pat hit the door again, and apparently made enough noise to let Buffy hear, the Slayer sounding alarmed when she went on and said her best friend's name, then asked what was happening.

"I'm not even sure", she replied at once, "Pat just… she transformed out of nowhere and she lost control, I locked myself up at the kitchen, but she's attacking the door now, if she gets in here, she'll attack me, you should have seen her, she doesn't even know who I am….!"

"Oh crap", Buffy gave back, not all too helpful, to the redhead's dismay, "wait, let me think for a second… Do you think you can knock her out with magic?"

"Well, yes", Willow let her know, holding back a sigh, knowing her friend only meant well and didn't want her to get hurt, "but Buffy, I don't want to hurt her… It's not really her fault, it must be the spell."

"Good point, okay that was a dumb idea", the Slayer admitted, flinching when she heard yet another bang through the line, "but what about some sleeping spell? Or that vine spell, you know the one to tie someone down?"

"That might work", Willow gave back after thinking about this for a moment, "at least for a while. Good idea…"

"Glad to help", Buffy smiled, then a horribly crashing sound came from the other end of the line and made her flinch; she heard a low thump as Willow dropped the phone, the connection thankfully not getting interrupted, giving her a chance to hear how the redhead cast the binding spell, followed by some angry sounding growls, making her hope that this meant the spell had worked out.

"Whew", Willow's voice came again moments later, immense relief filling the blonde, "thankfully, the spell worked out, I got her tied down with strips of… tile and carpet. Can you come here as fast as possible, please? With the tranquilizer gun?"

"Of course", Buffy reassured her at once, "I'm on my way. I'll tell Giles what happened so he can look into it, did she say anything before she changed?"

"She said that she was losing control", Willow remembered, looking at the still struggling demon, not sure if she should be afraid or worried for her partner; when her gaze met Pat's, her girlfriend stopped struggling for a moment, only to growl at her again, clearly still having no idea who she was and what they had shared before this whole situation.

"You should see her", she added, taking a step back just to be on the safe side, "she's… like a wild animal, I suppose."

"Oh my", Buffy mumbled, sounding so worried that it touched the redhead, "alright, I'll tell Giles and then I'll be on my way, see you in a few, take care until then okay? If she manages to break free, do try to knock her out, you know she can heal a lot in that demon form, so…"

"Yeah, but that doesn't make hurting her any easier", Willow sighed, then told the Slayer to hurry before she hung up and focused on her partner again, sending more energy into the binding spell to make sure it would hold, not wanting the demon to break free and being forced into knocking her out after all.

"If I could get my hands on Piretti, I'd kill him all over again", she mumbled, studying the demon, nearly flinching back when another low growl was the answer, accompanied by tugging at the bonds still holding her down; still keeping focused on the spell, Willow moved back another step, then sat down on the floor as she waited for Buffy to arrive, her mind running wild as she tried to figure out how to solve this newest problem.

* * *

To the relief of both Buffy and Willow, the tranquilizer kicked in quickly and effectively, knocking the demon out and into a deep sleep; standing next to her now still body, the witch and the Slayer studied it for a few moments, then Buffy finally spoke up, a hint of regret in her voice. "I know you won't like this, but as long as she is like this… we still got some chains in our cellar."

"I don't like this", Willow replied promptly, "but you're right, as long as she's like this, she can't stay here, it's too dangerous… for her, and for me."

"Indeed", Buffy agreed, glad that her best friend was seeing reason without a discussion, "of course you can stay at our place until this is figured out, if you don't mind sleeping on the couch, that is, I gave mom's old bedroom to Xander and Anya."

"No problem", the redhead gave back at once, "but how do we get her there? I know you got Slayer strength, but if we carry her through the streets looking like this, well… not really inconspicuous."

"And that's why I asked Giles to drive me here with his car, and wait in front of the building", Buffy proudly replied, "wasn't that smart?"

"Yes, very", Willow reassured her, having to smile despite the seriousness of the situation, "let's get her down and into that car then, wait, I'll—"

She had wanted to say that she'd help Buffy carry the demon downstairs, but clearly, this wasn't necessary, since the Slayer bent down and seemingly effortlessly picked the knocked out demon up in her arms, then asked Willow to open the door, the witch doing so without comment, once more stunned by her best friend's impressive strength.

"Now let's hope we won't run into any of your neighbours", Buffy commented as she carried Pat downstairs, with the redhead on her heels; to her surprise, the witch giggled slightly, then shrugged, a mischief twinkle in her eyes when she replied. "Maybe they'll react like the doctor did in the hospital, remember, when he came in right after I'd finished healing."

"Oh yeah", the Slayer remembered with a giggle, then amused her best friend even more by imitating the doctor's voice as she repeated what exactly he had said. "This is Sunnydale, and, frankly, as long as you're fine now, I don't care how exactly you did it, Miss Rosenberg."

"I was so glad he didn't freak out", the witch smiled, "when he entered all at once, I got really worried."

"Yeah, I noticed, all the colour drained from your face at once", Buffy teased, stopping the witch from a snarky reply by asking her to hold open the door and to look around outside to make sure no one was seeing them; the redhead did so at once, nodding at her friend afterwards to tell her that the area was clear before she hurried to Giles' car and opened the back door, the Watcher letting out a mild noise of surprise when Buffy loaded Pat into the backseat.

"This is strange", he commented while the witch climbed into the car as well, joining her knocked out partner in the back, and Buffy took the passenger seat, "usually, demons who have such shapeshifting abilities change back to their preferred form when dead or unconscious, and Pat's preferred form was the human one, wasn't it?"

"Of course", Willow gave back, speaking on without thinking, too distracted by her lover's state, "she would have shed hair on the furniture all the time otherwise, and making out… um… forget I said that."

"I will, immediately", Giles reassured her, starting the engine and driving off towards Buffy's house, "let's focus on our little… problem here instead, shall we?"

"Yes please", Willow mumbled, looking at the still knocked out demon with worry, "so, does this happening to her help you to figure out which spell he used?"

"Yes", Giles let her know at once, to her great relief, "but just to be sure, what exactly happened?"

"Well", the redhead started her recollection in reply, "she was just like she had been all day, you know, emotionless gal, and then, she kinda started groaning and got up and demoned out and attacked me… and before she did, she told me that she's losing control and that I should run."

"I told you all this already", Buffy pointed out, "with almost the exact same words!"

"Yes, I am well aware of this, Buffy", Giles reassured her, "but when you spoke to Willow, it was during the incident, so some details might have been missed or forgotten."

"Oh, oh, oh!" Willow nearly cried out in reply, making them both flinch, "I think I just remembered something… Giles, I don't think she changed on purpose this time. In fact, it looked as if it's painful for her, and usually, it doesn't."

"Did she ever mention if it is painful to her?" the Watcher wanted to know in reply, frowning slightly when Willow shrugged helplessly, then let him know that, if Pat had, she couldn't remember, pointing out though that at least it never had seemed to be painful before.

"Well, if the transformation was forced, unlike when she did it voluntarily, it might have been painful", Giles mused out loud in reply, "it's really a shame we can't ask her now, it surely would make things easier."

"She didn't look as if she's demoning out in purpose to me", the witch reminded him of her earlier words, "and she did tell me she's losing control, so…"

"Yes, yes", Giles agreed, "this should make it easier to figure out which spell was used to accomplish this, but I already have an inkling, and it's not a very pleasant option."

"Tell me", Willow demanded in reply, leaning forward in her seat while next to her, Pat remained motionless, still out cold from the tranquilizer Buffy had shot her with, "what is it?"

"Well", the Watcher gave back, looking as if desperately wanted to take off his glasses and clean them, couldn't though because he was driving, "judging from what you told me and the effect the spell initially had on her… I think that it somehow repressed her humanity."


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Since my friend Emerald Demona asked so nicely, here's another one ;D

"There", Buffy said a short while later, snapping the last lock close around the chains she had used to secure the demon to some hopefully sturdy enough iron pipes in the basement, "that should hold until we figured out how to reverse this."

"Let's hope so", Willow mumbled, still feeling dejected about what Giles had told her in the car, "I don't want her to hurt anyone, and she'll feel really bad about it once we managed to break this spell."

"Yeah", Buffy agreed, then moved closer to her friend and put one hand on her shoulder, giving her a concerned look, the same emotion in her voice when she went on. "How are you holding up? Are you okay?"

"Well, at first, my girlfriend lost all her emotions, and then she turned into her furrier form and tried to eat me", Willow sighed in reply, hoping that this hadn't sounded too sarcastic, "so I've been better… But I keep telling myself that we'll figure something out and that it'll be fine, so…"

"We will", the Slayer reassured her at once, moving closer to her and putting one hand on her arm, "don't worry. Giles is already hitting the books upstairs, and Xander, Anya and Dawn are helping."

"We should get up there and join them", Willow suggested in reply, "there's no use in hanging around here, even if Pat does wake up now, she won't know who we are."

"Good point", Buffy agreed, mildly surprised about how well the redhead was handling the whole situation; still she suspected that sooner or later, a breakdown of some form would occur, making a mental note to herself that she would be there for her friend then.

"Let's go then", she added, after another glance at the unconscious demon; nodding, the witch started moving towards the stairway, the blonde following her after a moment, the two leaving the cellar together and finding the rest of the group in the living room, all of them bent over various books.

"Any news yet?" Willow wanted to know as she sat down and helped herself to one of the unused volumes, hiding her disappointment when they all shook their head in reply; she made herself smile at them, then opened her volume and started going through it, making sure to read up on the symptoms the various spells in the tome were causing, not wanting to miss the right answer by accident.

For a while, there was silence, the only noise being the rustling of the pages being turned; then a low growl came from the cellar, followed by the noise of chains clinking on the stone floor, making them all flinch before they automatically looked over at the cellar door, their gazes collectively moving on to Willow afterwards, prompting the redhead to wonder which reaction exactly they were expecting from her now.

"Seems like knocking her out didn't help", she finally said, when the gazes became too expectant, "because from what I hear, she's still all demon-y."

"Apparently", Buffy agreed as the chains clinked once more down in the cellar, "let's just hope that the chains will hold. How strong is she in that form, exactly?"

"Quite strong?" Willow hazarded, shrugging when the blonde gave her a disbelieving look, "hey, I never asked her to armwrestle me, I don't know. But I do know that the chains held when both her and me were evil."

"Well, that's something", Anya commented, "so we can hope she won't break free when we all sleep and eat us, yes?"

"I hope so", Buffy sighed, "but I think I'll share the couch tonight with you, Willow, just in case."

"Might be better that way", the redhead agreed, then focused on her book again; the rest of the group got the hint and did the same, and again silence settled over the room as they went on searching for the solution to the current situation.

* * *

Several hours later, Buffy was fast asleep on the couch next to Willow, with Xander, Anya and Dawn having retreated upstairs while Giles had gone home; the witch had been hoping to get some sleep, as well, but that hope had been dashed hours ago, and now she laid awake next to her peacefully slumbering best friend, unable to keep her mind from running wild.

_Why did this have to happen, _she mused as she stared into the darkness of the living room, the sounds of chains moving on stone reaching her ears every now and then and making her flinch, _I just came back from England and all I wanted was some quiet time with the woman I love, after not seeing her for almost a month, and then all of this mess had to happen… _

Holding back a sigh, since she didn't want to wake up the blonde, Willow rolled over, turning her back to the Slayer; and now, that she was alone in the middle of the night instead of sleeping in her partner's arms, the events of the last day took their toll on her, and tears filled her eyes, forcing her to squeeze her eyes shut as she fought to hold them back.

Still not wanting to wake her friend up, she rolled over once more and buried her face in the pillow when it became clear that she'd lose that fight; the pillow muffled the soft sobs she started to let out, enough so she could still hear the noises the chains were making in the cellar as Pat moved around there, the sounds only making her cry harder as she had to admit to herself that they still had no idea how to undo the spell Piretti had put on her with his death.

All at once, she felt two arms wrap around her and hold her; and then, Buffy was whispering to her, telling her that it'd be okay and that she should let it out, the kind and worried sound of her voice prompting the witch to turn so she could properly return the hug and snuggle up to the blonde, sniffling softly as Buffy tenderly caressed her back.

"It's just so unfair", she finally brought in a trembling voice after a while, "all I wanted was to be with her, now that I'm back from England, and now look at her… she doesn't even know who I am…"

"I know it's hard", Buffy whispered soothingly in reply, "but it'll be okay… Hey, we've solved worse things than this, remember?"

"Yes", Willow sighed, "but I'm getting sick of this, Buffy, I mean it… all I wanted was some quiet time with her, after being away for so long, and now she's stuck in that demon form and wants to kill me, all thanks to that idiot guy! Fine, she killed his mother, yes, that was a bad thing to do, but she's changed… he had no right to do this to her…"

"No, he hadn't", Buffy agreed at once, "but we'll undo it, and things will be as they were, and you'll get that quiet time with her. I know for a fact she really wants that, too, she kept talking about it while you were gone. It was really getting annoying."

To her relief, her words had the effect she had been hoping for – Willow smiled slightly in the darkness, then let out a small sigh and moved out of the embrace so she could lie on her back, staring up at the ceiling once more.

"We have to find the one who helped him with this", she let Buffy know after doing so in silence for a while, "I doubt he was savvy enough to do it on his own, so someone must have helped him."

"But how do we find them?" the Slayer wanted to know, frowning, and asking herself when exactly the situation had moved from giving comfort to planning their next steps, then shrugged it off, telling herself that Willow probably needed this to keep herself from freaking out even further.

"I'll ask Giles tomorrow", the witch replied after thinking about it for a moment, "maybe, if we can get access to Piretti's body, we can figure something out then…"

"Shouldn't be too hard", Buffy shrugged in reply, smiling slightly, "we just buried him next to the building where Pat killed him, so unless someone dug him out, he should still be there."

"Oh Goddess, it'd just be our luck if someone really had dug him out", Willow grumbled, "if you jinxed that now, Buffy, I'll turn you into a… piglet."

"Why a piglet?" the Slayer wanted to know, surprised, raising an eyebrow when the witch just shrugged and smiled in reply; then, she let out a yawn, finally feeling that tiredness she had been waiting for, thus giving Buffy another smile before she suggested that they should get some more sleep, making the blonde nod immediately.

"And don't forget", she then said, while Willow made herself comfortable on the folded out couch, "everything will be alright."

"I surely hope so", the witch sighed, earning another smile from Buffy; then, they both settled into their pillows and blankets for the night, drifting off into sleep just a few minutes later, getting the rest they'd need for the task at hand.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: It's concert time tomorrow (wheee) so I'll update a day early. ;) Enjoy!

* * *

"I wish I had paid more attention when they buried him", Willow complained in the next morning as she stood next to the small, shabby building where her partner had been held captive and tortured before Piretti had met his end there, "then this wouldn't be so hard to figure out… I think it was over there."

"Well, can't say Buffy and Pat didn't do a good job with hiding that grave", Xander commented as he moved to the spot Willow had pointed out to him, shovel already in hand, "cause I see no difference to the rest of the ground all around. Must be experience from your girl's former line of work, huh?"

"Probably", the redhead agreed, watching how he started to dig, "but now I wish she wouldn't have known this. Would have made finding that corpse a bit easier."

"Oh, we'll find it sooner or later, I'm sure", Xander reassured her, smiling at her before he focused on digging again, "it's not like we have a deadline, right? Pat's safe and sound in the cellar, and Buffy stayed at home to make sure nothing happens there."

"Yes, I know", Willow gave back, smiling slightly as well, "but I want to get this done with as fast as possible, I'd prefer to have Pat back in her more human state. She might be cuddly in that demon form, but that doesn't help much if she wants to eat me every time she sees me."

"Makes sense", Xander had to admit, still digging and hoping that the redhead had pointed out the right spot to him, "and, just between the two of us, it's really jarring to see her act like this. Of all the people in the world, I always thought you'd be the last one she'd ever attack."

"Same here", Willow sighed, "remember when she was turned to stone and lost her mind? After she killed the guy who did that, she told me that I'm her life and that she'd never hurt me… and now this."

"Well, it's not really her fault though", the young man pointed out something Willow already was aware of anyway, "if what Giles said is right and that spell somehow took away her humanity, I suppose there's not much she can do. She can't help herself."

"I know, and I don't blame her", Willow gave back, smiling slightly again, "but as you said, it's jarring. When she demoned out and started growling at me, I was so shocked, I couldn't even run away for a second."

"Good thing you got over that quickly", the young man smiled in reply, then let out an "Oh!" as his shovel struck something which definitely was not earth; he squinted into the hole he had dug, then his face paled slightly, and he stepped back, gesturing at the corpse he had found.

"That's your guy", he let Willow know, "um… when, exactly, did you say Pat killed him?"

"Yesterday", the redhead replied, moving closer to him, "why do you… oh Goddess, that is gross!"

"Indeed", Xander grimaced, looking at the mostly decayed corpse, "I mean, I've never been too good in biology, you of all people know that, but decay shouldn't happen so fast, right?"

"Right", the witch agreed, lowering herself to one knee next to the grave, "that's really gross. And now I need to touch… that. Ew."

"Touch it?" Xander repeated, making yet another disgusted face, "really? There isn't any other way?"

"No", Willow sighed, "even though I wish there was. But to find out if someone else helped with putting that spell into his mind, I need to make close contact to him."

"Ew", Xander agreed with her, "if I had known that I would have brought some disinfectant."

"I did", the redhead smiled in reply, gesturing at her handbag as she put it down, "even if he hadn't decayed so much over night, touching would still have been gross, because dead guy and all."

"Smart girl", the young man nodded, then moved another step back as Willow took in a deep breath and moved closer to the grave; she fought down the urge to shudder as she reached out and placed two fingers on the dead man's skull, only to shriek a second later as the decayed hand suddenly showed up and grabbed her at the wrist, with a surprisingly strong, but cold and slimy grasp.

"Oh God!" she heard Xander yell behind her as she struggled to get out of the grip; then, the corpse's eyes opened, revealing empty sockets, but still giving the witch the feeling that he was looking at her, something which was confirmed when the jaws fell open and a horrible voice came up, sounding as if the owner was speaking through a mouthful of mud.

"Leave me be", he snarled, the witch immediately realizing that this wasn't Piretti's voice, "do not disturb my rest!"

"Who are you", Willow snapped in reply, giving her best to hide how grossed out she was, "tell me who you are and where you're hiding!"

"My rest has been disturbed before", the voice replied while behind the redhead, Xander made gagging noises as he fought to keep down his breakfast, "now I need to sleep. Leave me be!"

"I will find you", the redhead gave back, fresh determination in her voice, "and if you don't help me out then, I will make sure you never rest again, you hear me!"

"Leave me be", the voice said for a third time, then the rotting jaws snapped close and the eyelids fell shut again; the grip around her wrist became limp, then vanished as the corpse let go of her, settling down again, going back to being dead as it was supposed to.

"He definitely had help with doing that spell", Willow let Xander know as soon as she could be sure that Piretti would stay dead now, "that wasn't him talking."

"Then who was it?" Xander wanted to know, now daring to move closer to the grave again, his hands still trembling; he had seen a lot ever since he had become friends with Buffy, but halfway decayed corpses making grabs for his childhood friend were something new.

"I have no idea", Willow let him know, "but I'm about to find out. Step back, if this… thing is as powerful as I think it is, things might get flashy."

"Okay", the young man agreed at once, moving back again; taking in a deep breath, Willow sent a quick prayer that Piretti would stay dead now, then reached out once more, touching the slimy head with both hands and closing her eyes as she concentrated on the magic that still had to be left in there, a bright glow forming beneath her palms as her focus found its target.

Curiously, Xander watched from a safe distance how she sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes briefly going wide; and then, she let go of the head and slumped backwards on her bottom, letting out a heavy breath, sweat now glistening on her brow.

"And?" Xander wanted to know, moving a step closer again, "did you find anything?"

"Yes", Willow confirmed, coming to her feet again and grimacing at the slime and bits of tissue and hair which clung to her palms, "whoever helped him, they're… old. And very powerful."

"More powerful than you?" Xander asked, grimacing when the redhead nodded after a moment, then smiled grimly, a dark glint entering her eyes which nearly made her friend step back again, her voice cold when she spoke up again. "Possibly, but only in the state I am in right now. If this thing pisses me off enough, all bets are off."

"Let's hope it won't then", Xander replied, forcing himself to smile cheerfully at the witch; and after a moment, she smiled back and nodded, the darkness vanishing from her eyes as she asked him to pick up her purse and find the hand sanitizer and the pack of tissues she had brought, the young man gladly doing her that favour, hoping in the back of his mind that this could be resolved quickly – and preferably, without Willow getting mad enough to let the darkness within her take hold of her once more.

* * *

"This is very interesting", Giles let the redhead know once she was back at Buffy's house and had called him from there, "from what this… being told you, it seems as if Piretti woke it up to get help with the magic."

"That's what I thought, too", Willow agreed, walking up and down in the living room while Buffy watched her in curious silence, eager to learn more about the whole situation – the witch had told her what had happened when she had come back home, but just like Willow, she hadn't been able to make much of the information.

"Are there any of such beings in Sunnydale?" the redhead now wanted to know, frowning when Giles told her he didn't know in reply, the Brit sounding a tad apologetic when he spoke on and informed her that so far, there never had been a need to research this.

"I'll start doing so immediately, though", he then promised her, "and I'll look into other possibilities as well, after all, it is possible that this being isn't here physically, but was contacted in another dimension or realm through a ritual."

"Which wouldn't make finding this thing any easier", the witch grumbled, "but you got a good point there, I'll look into this too. Maybe we should contact the coven and ask them if they can help."

"Yes, good idea", Giles agreed at once, "I'll leave that to you, seeing you just spent time there with them. And I'll call you in case I find anything."

"Alright", Willow gave back, glad that she had something to do again which might lead closer to her partner getting back her human side, "and I'll let you know what the coven said. Talk to you later."

"Yes", the Watcher agreed, then said his goodbye and ended the call; doing the same, Willow put the phone back down on the table, then let out a little sigh as she checked her watch and calculated the time difference.

"Well, no use in calling them now", she then let Buffy know, "it's still in the middle of the night there."

"Better not wake the witches and warlocks up then", the Slayer smiled, making her friend nod; then, her gaze moved to the door leading to the cellar, her voice soft when she inquired about her partner.

"No change", Buffy regretfully told her, "I went down while you and Xander were out, to bring her breakfast, and had to push the tray over to her with a broomstick or she would have eaten me instead of the ham and eggs."

"I'll go check on her", Willow decided after considering this for a moment, sighing slightly when the blonde gave her a pointed look in reply and quickly speaking on before her best friend could say anything. "I'll be careful, so there's no need for you to look at me like that. I won't go too close, I just want to see her."

"Okay, fine", Buffy sighed, knowing there was no use in trying to talk Willow out of this, "but make sure you really don't get too close to her, as much as I hate to say that, she's too dangerous right now to take any risks."

"I know", the redhead sighed, then moved over to the door leading down into the cellar; as she opened it, loud growls greeted her, even though Pat couldn't even see her yet, her heart skipping a beat at how vicious and angry those growls sounded.

"Hey", she said in the kindest voice she could manage, giving her best not to let her fear show, remembering what she had been taught about letting wild animals notice that she was scared, and, even though it hurt to admit it, her partner wasn't much more than a wild animal right now, still growling as she watched her approach.

"Just wanted to check on you", she went on, wondering if at least, Pat recognized her voice and would react to it in one way or another; not wanting to take any risks though, she made sure to stay out of her reach, keeping her gaze on the chains that had been locked around her wrists and ankles, then looking up at where they were connected to the wall, suddenly finding herself worried that they might not hold, should the demon put enough strength into her tries to get free.

"Xander and I went to Piretti's grave", she continued after a second of just studying her girlfriend in silence, "and I managed to find out a bit about the magic he used to cast that spell on you. Giles is researching right now, and I'll call the coven once they're up over there, then we'll figure out how to give your humanity back, and you'll be okay."

The only answer she received was another growl, accompanied with a glare from a glowing red eye; fighting the urge to step back, Willow stayed where she was, making herself hold the demon's gaze, even though she wasn't sure if this was a good idea.

"Sorry we have to keep you down here like this", she sighed after a few more minutes had ticked by in silence, "but you'll surely understand once you come back around, I mean, we can't let you run around as long as you're… like that. You might hurt someone."

In response, Pat kept glaring at her a bit longer; and then, she suddenly let out a shockingly loud mixture of a growl and a bellow and lunged forward, the chains clinking and stretching as they held her back from moving more than a few feet. Still, Willow flinched back at this unexpected and violent reaction, her fear now showing in her eyes; and clearly, the demon had picked up on this, since her growls grew louder, her muscles moving visibly beneath all the fur as she pulled and strained against her chains.

"I guess I… better go now", the redhead finally brought out, her voice trembling, the sound only increasing the volume of the growls Pat was letting out, "and you should stop that, you might end up hurting yourself… no, wait, you'll heal it, forget I said anything…"

While she had been talking, she'd already moved backwards towards the stairs; and right after the last word had left her mouth, she spun around and hurried back upstairs, managing to keep herself from slamming the door shut in the last second, leaning against the wood after she had closed it behind herself and letting out a heavy breath.

"Quite unsettling, I know", Buffy's voice distracted her from the state her girlfriend was in, "she nearly jumped me when I went down to give her breakfast, and I almost dropped it all, I jumped back so fast."

"If I had carried something, I would have dropped it for sure", Willow mumbled, moving away to the door and sitting down on the couch next to the blonde, "it's… You know, it's not even that she's so violent or that she growls all the time, what upsets me the most is just how… inhuman she is now."

"But luckily, this is just temporary", Buffy smiled in reply, "because we'll figure this out sooner or later and then she'll be back to her more loveable and less dangerous self. At least, less dangerous for us."

"Yeah", the redhead agreed, smiling weakly as well, "and then I can tease her about her doggy side whenever she deserves it."

"Oh, she'll love that", Buffy giggled, glad when her laughter made the redhead's smile widen a bit, as well; then, Willow let her know that she'd go to the Magic Box and check if Anya had any books there which might be useful for their current predicament, the blonde nodding her agreement before she asked if she should come along, not surprised when the witch immediately shook her head.

"You better stay here, just in case something odd happens with Pat down there", she then added, giving Buffy a grateful look when the blonde didn't protest, but merely nodded, "we still don't know if this spell could have any other, unpleasant effects on her, so who knows what else might happen…"

"And in case she manages to break out, I'll have the better chance of the two of us to knock her out", Buffy added, hurriedly speaking on when she saw the mortified expression which appeared on her best friend's face in response. "Not with violence, of course! I mean with the tranquilizer gun. No offense Willow, but your aim isn't exactly… good."

"I know", the redhead gave back, smiling slightly, "and thanks for clearing that up, I already thought you were talking about knocking her out with your fists. Or feet. Or both."

"I'll only do that if I really have no other choice", Buffy promised her, "but let's hope it won't be necessary."

"Indeed", the witch agreed at once, then moved to pick up her purse; afterwards, she put on her shoes and jacket, reassuring Buffy that she'd be back soon before she left the house and headed for the Magic Box, hoping she'd find something helpful in the vast collection of books Anya was keeping there.


	6. Chapter 6

"Willow", Giles greeted her as she entered, sounding mildly surprised, an emotion she could understand since she felt quite the same about finding him here, "I didn't expect you to come here."

"I didn't expect to find you here, either", the redhead let him know as she moved over to where he was sitting at the round table they usually used for their Scoobie gang meetings, "did you already finish with your books at home?"

"Unfortunately, yes", the Watcher sighed, "the collection at my home was not very helpful. Since here, there's a much bigger one though, coming here was the logical thing to do."

"Would you like some coffee?" Anya threw in from behind the counter before Willow could say anything to that, "I made it for Giles, but he doesn't want it, so if you want some, feel free to help yourself!"

"Oh, thanks", the redhead gave back, smiling slightly as she moved to the coffee machine and poured some of the dark liquid into the cup the ex-demon had readied; she added milk and sugar, and while she stirred the coffee, Anya spoke up again, now sounding mildly concerned as she asked how Pat was doing.

"Still the same", Willow sighed in reply, taking a sip of her coffee before she went on. "All animal-y, you know? I went to check on her before I came here and she just growled at me and actually tried to lunge at me."

"I hope you stayed out of her reach", Giles commented, clearing his throat at the look he received from the witch in reply, her voice dry when she answered. "Of course I did, I'm not silly. You should know that."

"Yes, of course", the Watcher reassured her, "but, well, no offense, Willow, but your feelings might… cloud your judgement."

"I'm not going to put myself in danger", the redhead rolled her eyes in reply, "people in love might do stupid things, but I'd never do _that_."

"I'm glad to hear this", Giles smiled, ignoring the indignant look she gave him in reply and handing her one of the books he had gotten out of the shelves, "and now that this has been settled, would you like to join me in the research?"

"Of course, that's why I came here", Willow gave back, accepting the book and opening it; for a while, there was silence, only interrupted when one of them turned the page or when Anya made some noise as she bustled around in the store, glancing at the door every now and then as she waited for customers.

"Why is no one coming to buy something", she finally complained after an hour had passed, making Willow look up from her book while Giles just ignored her, "I put the sign to 'Open', right? Willow, did you look when you entered?"

"Yes, and you did", the witch confirmed, "maybe people just don't need stuff for magic today."

"People always need stuff for magic, this is Sunnydale", Anya grumbled, "are you sure you don't need anything, Willow?"

"Not yet", the witch shrugged in reply, momentarily feeling a bit bad for Anya – after their apartment had been blown up and Xander and she were forced to stay at Buffy's house until they could move into their new home, the ex-demon at least would have deserved some good business at her shop.

"But if I do, I'll come here, of course", she thus added, smiling at the brunette, "and I'll even pay without starting a discussion about it."

If it had been any other person, they might have pointed out that they didn't want to be paid out of pity; since she was talking to Anya though, the ex-demon just smiled and nodded happily, then suddenly frowned, sounding just mildly concerned when she spoke up again. "And you won't have a problem with that? I mean, not to be insensitive, but normally… well, normally Pat pays for your things. But now she can't because she's all demony and I wouldn't let her into the store, I'd be too afraid she might break something. Or eat something. Or me."

"Unfortunately, that is something to be afraid of at the moment", Willow replied with a sigh, then smiled slightly, "but no worries, I still got my own money, you know? I just let her pay all the time because a) she insists on it and b) she's way richer than I am."

"Which is lucky for me, then", Anya smiled, making the redhead nod before she pointedly looked at her book again; luckily, the brunette got the point and focused on the paperwork in front of her again, rustling with the papers and chewing on her pen as she went through it.

"What about this", Willow broke the silence after a while, turning her book around so Giles could look at what she had found and pointing out a wish-granting deity, "do you think he could have done it like that?"

"Not very likely", Giles gave back after reading through the text she had pointed out to him, "this… entity is some sort of evil genie, it appears, and fulfils the wishes people make in a most unsatisfying way."

"Well, maybe he didn't ask to die for the spell to take effect", the witch tried to argue, even though she had to admit that the Brit was making a good point; he just raised an eyebrow in reply, and after a few more seconds, Willow sighed as she turned the book back towards to herself so she could go on reading, mumbling about how it had been worth a try.

"It's always good to think outside the box", Giles told her after a minute had ticked by in silence again, making her briefly wonder where this had come from as she looked up at him again, "but not too far outside."

"Well, yeah", Willow gave back after a moment, frowning slightly, "why are you telling me this?"

"Just to make sure you are not disheartened", the Watcher shrugged, giving her a kind smile afterwards, "I imagine this whole situation must be quite hard for you, and I wouldn't want to add any extra dismay."

"Thanks", the witch replied quite dryly, "but I'm doing quite fine, so no need to worry."

"You're holding up really well", Anya felt the need to comment from behind the counter, "if the same thing had happened to Xander, I surely would be crying a lot! Also because there wouldn't be any orgasms for a while."

At this, Giles winced while Willow just nodded, not sure what to reply to this; Anya gave her a bright smile, then focused on her paperwork again while the redhead and the Watcher directed their attention on their books again, silence filling the store once more as they call continued their work.

* * *

"Found anything?" Buffy asked her best friend the moment she entered the house, her smile fading when Willow sighed in reply, then shook her head, giving the Slayer an unhappy look while she took off her shoes and jacket, then made her way into the living room and sat down next to Buffy on the couch, sounding glum when she spoke up. "Nope… we'll continue tomorrow, and I called the coven from the Magic Box – after Anya annoyed me about paying for it, long distance and all, they'll look into it, too."

"I'm sure something will be found sooner or later", the Slayer tried to cheer her up, smiling again now, "and, if it calms you down, your girlfriend was exceptionally quiet the whole time. I think she finally figured out that she can't get rid of those chains."

"I guess that's good", the witch gave back with a small sigh, "she'd heal it right away anyway, but I'm worried about her hurting herself with all that tugging and what not…"

"I was more worried about her managing to get free after all", Buffy admitted in reply, looking a bit ashamed, "no offense or anything, but, well, that might have been quite dangerous for all of us."

"I know", Willow sighed in reply, "and I hope we'll figure something out soon, this is really getting… hard. I just want her back…"

Not sure what she could reply to that, Buffy just nodded, then briefly put a comforting hand on her friend's arm; in response, the redhead smiled at her, then let her know that she'd go check on her partner, having to promise Buffy again that she wouldn't go too close, just to be sure no harm would come to her.

The moment she opened the door leading into the cellar, a low growling noise came up just out of sight; she nearly flinched, but bravely made her way down the stairs, the volume of the growling increasing the moment she could spot the demon and Pat saw her, as well.

"I wish you'd stop doing that", the witch told her as she moved closer, always keeping the range of the chains in mind, "you should know I wouldn't hurt you… but on the other hand, maybe you're growling at me because I'm just dinner to you right now, who knows? Annoying dinner probably because it won't shut up, but, well…"

She trailed off, not sure what else to say; after all, she didn't even know if Pat actually understood what she was telling her, or if she had been reduced to such a low level of intelligence that it was just noise for her, anyway.

"I called the coven", she went on after a moment after all, eager to break the silence which had formed in the cellar, the demon at least for now having stopped growling at her, "they'll look into it… so hopefully, we'll figure out how to give your humanity back soon, we'll just need to find out which deity Piretti used to—" All at once, Pat let out a shockingly loud growl again and threw herself forward, until the chains stopped her harshly; with a little cry, Willow flinched back, her eyes going wide as she tried to figure out what had caused this reaction – after all, the demon hadn't acted so hostile towards her until she…

"Until I said his name", she realized, her heartbeat speeding up as she pondered what this might mean, asking herself if maybe, her partner still was in there somewhere, at least enough of her personality to remember who had done this to her and what she had been like before it had happened.

"Calm down", she made herself say in the most soothing voice she managed, "he's dead, he won't harm any of us anymore…"

To her relief and slight surprise, her words obviously had the effect she had desired, since the growls Pat still was letting out became softer after a few moments, then stopped fully again, the demon just staring at her once more, shifting on the cold cement floor slightly and making the chains clink and rattle again.

"We'll find out how to undo what he did to you", Willow told her after yet another moment had passed in silence, during which she bravely had held the glowing red gaze of her partner, "don't worry… It'll all be okay."

Another low growl came in response, then the demon apparently forgot all her hostility since she settled down on the floor, making herself comfortable; and for a moment, Willow was tempted to move closer to her, just to see if she'd try to attack her again, then pushed those thoughts aside, horrified about how careless she had been for a second, even if it just had been in her thoughts and she hadn't acted on it.

"Good thing you didn't, or you might have ended up eaten", she mumbled to herself, flinching when Pat let out a low snort in reply, once again making her wonder if maybe, the demon understood more of her words than she was aware of right now.

"Willow?" Buffy's voice drifted down the stairs, distracting her from her ponderings, "Giles is on the phone for you!"

"Alright, I'm coming", the redhead gave back, taking one last look at her partner before she turned and moved back to the stairs; a low growl came up behind her, and she couldn't stop herself from looking back, to her surprise seeing that the red glow in the demon's eye had become much duller, making her wonder for a second what this might mean.

"I'll be back soon", she said after a moment, earning yet another growl in reply; still she made herself smile at the demon, even though she had no idea if this had been a noise of happiness or of hostility, then finally made her way upstairs, where Buffy was waiting for her at the cellar door, holding the cordless phone out to her.

"Thanks", she smiled at her best friend as she took the phone from her, then held it to her ear and greeted the Watcher with a "Yes?", practically able to hear the proud smile on his face when he replied.

"Good afternoon, Willow", he greeted her, the happy sound of his voice making her heart beat faster as she realized that it probably meant he had found something, a suspicion he confirmed moments later as he went on, "I'm going to come right to the point, I may have found the being responsible for your girlfriend's current… state."

"What is it, then?" Willow wanted to know, waiting for the Brit to come to the point as he had said he would, only to gulp when he did so.

"A demon named Malphas", Giles told her, now not sounding happy and proud anymore, but quite serious, "specializing in magical warfare. From what I could gather in my books, he's been banished to the nether realms several centuries ago, which would explain why he tried to scare you off when you went to have a look at Piretti's corpse."

"Getting lazy in the nether realms, huh", Willow rolled her eyes in reply, "is this like some kind of demon pension resort?"

"No, not really", Giles gave back, clearly having missed the hint of sarcasm in her voice, "as you surely know, a prolonged stay in those realms weakens all creatures, so doing this for Piretti might have been quite the task for this formerly strong demon."

"I wonder how Piretti made him do it", Willow mused out loud, frowning to herself, "you didn't find out how to summon this demon, right?"

"I did", Giles let her know in reply, "in fact, it's surprisingly easy, considering what a powerful demon this used to be before the banishment. I'll come over to Buffy's home if that's alright with both of you, we can try to summon him there."

"Yeah, sure", the redhead gave back, mildly surprised – when she had suggested summoning the demon, she had halfway expected the Watcher to tell her no and that doing so would be too dangerous.

"The best time to summon Malphas is at nighttime", Giles let her know, distracting her from her thoughts, "so I'll come over shortly before sundown."

"Alright", Willow agreed, "I'll tell Buffy… do you have all the stuff we'll need to summon that demon? What do we need, anyway?"

"Nighttime", Giles repeated what he already had told her, "fresh air, light blue candles, and marigold. I already packed the candles and the marigold, so you have nothing to worry about."

"Oh, alright, good to hear", the witch replied, "I'll just wait for sundown, then, I guess…"

"Yes, I'll see you then", the Watcher confirmed, then told her to take care before he said goodbye and ended the call; Willow did the same, then looked at Buffy, smiling happily as she had the feeling that a solution was quite close at hand now while she told her best friend the news.

"Demon summoning in my backyard", Buffy gave back, "sounds like fun. Perfect thing to do during a boring evening!"

"Yeah, isn't it exciting", Willow smirked, "but no worries, I know how to summon him without giving him a chance to harm any of us, I haven't done such a summoning before, but I know all the theory…"

"I'm not worried about that", the Slayer reassured her, even though she wasn't as comfortable with the thought as she was trying to make her best friend believe, "I'm sure Giles and you will know what you are doing."

"Indeed", the witch nodded, even though she wasn't as sure of this as she wanted to be; after all, she never had summoned any kind of demon before, but was well aware of the various things which could go wrong during a summoning. Then, she thought of her partner again, how they were forced to keep her chained up in the cellar, and pushed those concerns aside, telling herself that she had to do it for Pat's sake and that taking this risk would be worth it if it meant a chance to get her partner back.


	7. Chapter 7

"This looks good", Giles nodded several hours later, looking at the circle of blue candles he had put up in the backyard once more; nodding as well, Willow was busy with lighting them all up, Buffy standing at a safe distance and watching, still not all too sure if this was a good idea, but figuring that, since this was their only lead so far, it had to be worth a try.

"Willow", Giles went on after the last candle had been lit, "since you're closest to Pat, I suggest that you do the summoning and make the request, if the information in my books is correct, this should appeal to Malphas. Are you up to this?"

"I guess so", the witch replied, figuring that the Watcher's words were making sense – not only was she closest to the demon in whose behalf she would address Malphas, but her power was much bigger than Giles', as well, a fact which should make it easier to hold the demon she wanted to summon in the circle the elder man had made with the candles.

"The summoning is fairly simple", the Brit now let her know, handing a small plastic bag with marigold petals to her, "all you have to do is walk around the circle, outside of it of course, and spread those petals while you command the demon to make an appearance. Make sure that you keep your focus on the circle, or he might try to break out."

"Won't let that happen", Willow reassured him as she took the petals from him and sniffed them, smiling briefly at the sweet smell, "the last thing we need now is a pissed off demon rampaging through Sunnydale."

"Indeed", Giles agreed, then his gaze moved to a point behind her and he smiled slightly – before he moved over to the window where Xander, Anya and Dawn had formed a little cluster, clearly eager to get a good view of what was about to happen, knocking the glass and telling them to move back, just in case.

"Glass might be broken if the demon manifests with enough force", he added at their doubtful looks, causing Buffy to cry out "Wait, what?" behind him, but before the Slayer could protest about doing something which might break their windows, Willow gave her a calming look, letting her know that she'd pay for any damage which would be done during the summoning a moment later.

"Okay, fine", the blonde sighed, "but I hope it won't be necessary."

"Me too", Willow reassured her, then took in a deep breath and asked Buffy and Giles to step back; once they had done so, she slowly started to walk around the circle of candles the Watcher had put up, letting the marigold petals fall from her palm and to the ground as she called out to the demon in question.

"Malphas", her voice echoed through the quiet backyard, with a commanding tone in it that made Giles smile proudly, "I summon you! Make your entrance into this world, and bow to my will!"

"Does it work that way?" Buffy whispered to Giles while the witch started adding Latin words she had no clue about, "she just tells him to bow to her will and he has to?"

"No, of course not", Giles whispered back, "she is adding the binding incantations right now, that's the Latin."

"Oh", Buffy replied, then flinched when all of a sudden, a bright, white light formed in the middle of the circle; dropping the last few marigold petals, Willow took a step back, raising one arm to shield her eyes from the glare as the air in the circle crackled and a strong wind came up, strong enough to make her hair stream out behind her.

For a few seconds, the wind grew even stronger, and the light even brighter; and then, with a loud crack that made the windows rattle in their frames, but luckily didn't break them, a shockingly large crow appeared in the circle, staring at Willow with hateful, beady eyes, the witch forcing herself to hold the gaze and to remain where she was, even though she wanted to move a few more steps back due to the sheer anger in the bird's gaze.

"Who are you, that you summon me", the crow demanded to know, in a surprisingly human sounding voice; that, combined with the size of the thing, nearly made the redhead step back again, but she remained where she was, still holding the demon's gaze as she replied. "I summoned you to break the spell your last summoner put on my partner."

"That is not what I asked", the crow replied, in a patronizing tone that made Willow raise an eyebrow, "so you are the one who disturbed my last summoner's final rest! I told you to leave me alone!"

"I'll leave you alone as soon as you did what I asked from you", the witch replied, giving her best to keep her voice calm – so far, the demon was condescending and patronizing, but at least, he hadn't tried to break out of the circle or any other way of attack, and she hoped that, if she didn't show her slight fear, he wouldn't do that in the future, either.

"What will I get in return?" the crow wanted to know in reply, cocking his head to one side and regarding her with his small black and beady eyes, "if you can make me an offer interesting enough, I might consider it."

Not being prepared for this, Willow just held the crow's gaze for a moment, not sure what to reply; before she could come up with anything which might appease to the demon, he flapped his wings and cawed loudly, hopping closer to the circle's edge afterwards and looking at her stonily.

"You summon me and have nothing to offer?" he spat, managing to sound so outraged that Willow did take a step back after all, "I shall have your heart for this! What an insult!"

He let out another loud caw, then lifted from the ground and tried to fly at her; the barrier she had put up with the spell and the help of the candles kept him in the circle, a flash of light briefly illuminating the darkness as Malphas hit the barrier, and he cawed angrily again, glaring at the witch once more.

"I have to admit", he then snarled, still looking daggers at her, "you knew what you were doing when you called me, unlike that last imbecile who called me to this pathetic world. But that won't protect you from my wrath!"

"Someone has a short temper", Buffy whispered to Giles while Willow moved closer to the circle again, feeling more confident now that the barrier was holding up, making sure to keep focusing on it so it wouldn't break after all while Malphas kept glaring at her, clearly not happy to be stuck there with her.

"What offer do you have in mind?" the redhead wanted to know, smiling charmingly at the bird, "tell me and we can negotiate. Otherwise, you'll just remain stuck in this circle."

"Well", Malphas replied after a moment, "my last summoner promised me his soul. I got it surprisingly quick, too. Are you willing to give me this?"

"No", the witch gave back at once, not even willing to consider this ludicrous offer; in reply, Maphas cawed again before he settled himself on the ground again, a nasty glint entering his eyes when he spoke up once more.

"Then I'll just have to take something else, I suppose… the lives of your friends should suffice", he let her know with a smug undertone; and before she could ask him how exactly he planned to do that, being stuck in the circle and all, the earth behind her and in front of the window where Xander, Dawn and Anya were still watching split open with a shockingly loud roar, a group of vaguely humanoid creatures digging themselves out of the ground while the demon laughed in malicious glee, his eyes glittering as he watched his creatures advanced, the witch just capable of staring in shock, never having expected something like this to happen.

* * *

"Willow!" Buffy's voice tore her out of her stupor, "get inside, help them in there, I'll take care of the ones outside!"

"Alright", the witch gave back after another moment, already starting to move; and while she hurried to the back door, she heard the sounds of fighting come up behind her as Buffy met the creatures Malphas had sent at them, low grunts and cries coming from them as her punches and kicks were delivered with painful aim.

Figuring that the Slayer could hold her own against those creatures, Willow focused on her part of the battle as she rushed into the house; she heard the chains clinking and clattering in the cellar, accompanied by the roars Pat was letting out down there, making her wonder if she had realized what was going on – before she entered the kitchen where Xander, Dawn and Anya were trying to fend off the creatures Malphas had sent, using various kitchen utensils to do so.

"Get out of here!" Willow snapped at them as she moved closer to one of the creatures, now having time to notice that they appeared to be made of earth and wood; using this to her advantage, she quickly conjured a fireball and, making sure to keep it in her hands until the last second, burned the one closest to her, asking herself if this was how Pat felt whenever she did this when the creature howled in agony and perished.

"I'll need powerful magic to get rid of these guys", she added when the trio didn't move, "so get out, I don't want you caught in the crossfire!"

"Sure, of course", Xander was the first one to react; he grabbed both Anya and Dawn, then dragged them out of the kitchen with him, taking them upstairs where they hid away in one of the bedrooms, hoping and praying that the creatures wouldn't get past Willow and up to them.

"Did you hear Pat down in the cellar?" Dawn wanted to know, looking at her friends with worry, "it sounded like she's going crazy down there, I wonder what's up with that."

"Left-over protection instinct perhaps", Anya shrugged, clearly not all too interested in this since she was way too busy with listening as hard as she could for any signs about how the fight was going downstairs, "or she just wants to kill something, you know how she always got cranky even when she still had her human side whenever she didn't beat anything up for too long."

"Let's hope she won't get out", Xander mumbled, flinching when a loud crash came from downstairs, hoping it had been caused by Willow flinging one of the creatures against the wall and not due to the other way round, "the last thing we need now is a crazy demon on the loose."

"Indeed", Anya nodded, then listened closely again; another crash came from downstairs, and she flinched, looking relieved though when she heard a howl similar to the one the first creature had let out when it had been killed.

"Seems like Willow is doing okay down there", she added, looking at the others; and at least for the moment, this was true, the witch having bound two of the four remaining creatures with her often used binding spell and fending off the other two with fire and lightning spells, giving her best to ignore the fact that sooner or later, she'd be drained and wouldn't be capable of doing any more magic for at least a few hours.

The fact that from the cellar, she could still hear Pat rage and roar, didn't make any of this easier for her; she kept hoping that the demon wouldn't break loose while she was battling the creatures Malphas had sent, or that at least, she would only do so once Buffy had gotten done with the ones outside and would be able to join and help her. Then, she pushed those thoughts aside, telling herself she had to focus on fighting off those creatures now; her concentration had slipped long enough though to let one of them get too close to her, and before she could throw a spell at it to force it back, it lashed out with an arm made of roots and earth and small stones, hitting her hard enough to send her a few steps back.

A small cry escaped her when her foot got caught on something and she flailed in an effort to keep her balance; despite her best tries though, she ended up falling over after all a few seconds later, stars exploding in front of her eyes when the back of her head hit the tiled floor hard. Groaning, she shook her head slightly to clear it, just in time to see the massive arm come rushing down; somehow, she managed to roll over in time, the hit landing on the floor instead of right in her face, accompanied by the sound of splintering wood, making her ask herself how hard that creature actually had tried to smash its arm into her.

Quickly, before another hit could try to be landed, she got up on all fours, then came to her feet; and just as she turned around, she got hit once more, low in the back this time, with enough force to throw her back down on her hands and knees, sharp pain racing through her kidneys as she gasped for air, a breathless cry escaping her when she felt wooden hands grab her and flip her around so she ended up flat on her back, the creature which had landed the blow crouching over her, forming a vague scissor shape with its fingers while it kept breathing "Heart… heart…" in a weak, but still audible, throaty voice.

"No", Willow pressed out between grit teeth, her mind racing as she tried hard to focus on a spell to keep the creature from harming her any further; and suddenly, loud growls echoed through the kitchen as a large and furry shape tackled the creature and threw it off the witch, the growls muted momentarily as Pat's head shot down and her jaws snapped shut, tearing through the wooden and earthy throat of the monster.

Even though she was glad that Pat had come to her rescue like this, Willow wasn't all too happy about this new development; at this very moment, the demon was tearing apart the creatures Malphas had sent after them with ease, but she had no idea what her partner might do once those had been gotten rid of, if she might turn on her then and thus, force her to fight back and maybe hurt her. At least for a little longer though, she realized that she didn't need to worry about this – the demon was too busy with getting rid of the creatures, fighting them with a viciousness Willow never had seen from her before, not even during the hardest and most dangerous fights, shrugging off all the blows she received as she tore and bit at them, bits and pieces of wood and clumps of earth soon littering the kitchen floor.

With a throaty snarl, the last remaining creature managed to land another hit, tearing a deep gash through the demon's fur and the skin beneath it; it bled for a few seconds, then closed again with the by now quite familiar fleshy noises while Pat just growled lowly in reply again as she grabbed the humanoid with both hands and, to Willow's surprise and slight shock, simply tore it in two, throwing the twitching halves aside carelessly afterwards.

Gulping nervously, the redhead realized that this had effectively rendered the last enemy in the room if not dead, then at least unable to fight; and clearly, her partner was aware of this as well, since after just standing there and growling lowly in the back of her throat for a few moments, she turned to look at Willow, her good eye glowing brightly red again, the witch finding herself mesmerized by the gaze as she asked herself what Pat would do now – if she'd attack her as she had attacked the creatures Malphas had sent, or if somehow, there still was enough of her left deep inside somewhere to keep her from doing this.


	8. Chapter 8

For a few seconds, the kitchen was almost perfectly silent, the only sounds being the low, slightly wheezing breaths of the demon and the shallower ones of the witch as she waited for her partner to do something; she tensed when Pat started moving, only to relax again when the demon merely settled down on the ground, making herself comfortable there, her gaze never leaving the redhead's.

Getting the feeling that, if she'd look away, it might have unexpected consequences, Willow kept looking back at her, not letting her gaze flicker away for the blink of an eye, not even when she lowered herself on the ground as well and sat down, only now fully feeling the pain caused by the hits she had taken.

"Willow?" Buffy's voice now came up at the back door as the blonde entered the house, "are you alright? Did you… oh my God!" The last few words were directed at the presence of Pat in her kitchen, and she froze in her steps; somehow, Willow managed not to look away from the demon as she raised her hand to calm the Slayer down, keeping her voice low when she quickly told Buffy what had happened.

"She got out", she stated the obvious, "and actually saved me from those… things. But I'm not sure what will happen once I stop looking her in the eye, so… be ready to knock her out, alright?"

"Alright", the Slayer gave back, tensing up while Willow took in a deep breath; and then, she broke the eye contact, and before Buffy even had the chance to realize what was happening, the demon had launched herself forward and had tackled the redhead, a shocked cry escaping the smaller woman when she ended up pinned beneath her partner, her breath hot on her cheeks when she growled at her, sharp teeth bared and ready to snap close, maybe tear out her throat or part off her face.

Despite her shock and fear, Willow managed to freeze up instead of try to struggle, somehow sure that this only would aggravate the demon more; for a few more seconds, Pat kept staring at her while Buffy tried to sneak up on her, not wanting her to notice and maybe attack the redhead before she'd turn on her – and then, to her amazement, the demon slowly moved back again, getting off the heavily breathing witch and settling in front of her, still staring at her, but not making another move to attack her.

"What just happened?" Buffy whispered, taking another step closer to Pat; now holding her partner's gaze again, Willow shrugged, keeping her voice low as well when she replied. "No idea, honestly… I wish I could tell you that there's something of her human side left deep inside there, but I'm not sure if this just is wishful thinking or a fact…"

"Well, she didn't eat you, even though she could have, seeing how fast she moved", Buffy pointed out, "so who knows, maybe it's not just wishful thinking."

"I hope so", the witch sighed, then flinched as Buffy took another step closer to the demon - and Pat's head whipped around to stare at her, a low growl coming from her again, the muscles in her legs tensing visibly as she got ready to pounce the blonde.

"No", Willow sharply told her without thinking about it twice, "leave Buffy alone, bad demon!"

Only after saying those words, she realized how ridiculous they had sounded; to her surprise though, they seemed to have some kind of effect, since the demon's gaze focused on her again – before she let out some sort of agreeing grunt and relaxed visibly, causing Buffy to let out the breath she had been holding when she had been waiting to see what Pat would do next.

"At least she seems to be listening to you now", she then commented, taking a step back, "do you think you can handle her for a minute or two? I want to go check on the rest and tell them they can come back down."

"Yeah, I think so", Willow gave back after thinking about this for a moment, "if she'd want to kill me, she could have done so a minute ago, I doubt she'll do anything to me…"

"Just use the binding spell if she tries", Buffy advised her, skilfully ignoring the fact that just a few minutes ago, Pat had moved and tackled the redhead so fast that there had been no chance for her to do just that, "and I promise I'll hurry."

Nodding, Willow watched her go, briefly wondering where Giles was, then shrugging it off, figuring Buffy would have told her if something had happened to him; instead of pondering the Watcher's whereabouts any further, she looked at her partner again, making sure to keep her voice low and soothing when she spoke up again.

"Um, thanks for killing those things, and for not eating me I suppose", she told the demon, again wondering how much Pat actually was understanding when she shifted on the tiled floor as if in response, "but it'd be really nice to know if you're still in there, somewhere… can you show me somehow?"

To her dismay, the demon didn't really react in any way to her question, but just kept looking at her; and even though she knew that it was incredibly risky and stupid, Willow found herself moving closer to her, reaching out slowly with one hand, not wanting to startle her and maybe make her attack her again. Without even noticing fully, she held her breath as the tips of her fingers made contact with the soft fur; carefully, she moved her hand closer, until her fingers nearly vanished in the thick hair, her heartbeat slowing down a bit again when Pat just kept looking at her, but made no move to attack her.

"Okay", she mumbled, still trying hard to sound soothing and reassuring, "now I can touch you and you don't try to bite my hand off, that's a good thing…"

To her amazement, the demon did respond this time, with a low growl that she somehow managed to make sound not threatening; smiling slightly, Willow got more daring and ran her hand over the soft fur, the movement causing the growl to increase in volume slightly, but still without a threat in it, the redhead's smile widening at the sound.

"You like that, huh", she demanded to know, now daring to caress the soft fur tenderly, "kinda surprising."

"Indeed", Giles' voice came from the doorway leading into the backyard, making the redhead jump while Pat's head snapped around and she glared at him, growling louder and much more threateningly now; quickly, without thinking twice about it this time, Willow moved closer to her and rubbed her back soothingly, hurriedly telling her that it was okay.

"Sorry", the Watcher apologizes, "I should have realized she'll only tolerate your presence."

"I didn't expect her to do even that", Willow shrugged in reply, still rubbing the demon's back soothingly and smiling again when content growls were the answer, "I mean, right after she demoned out, she wanted to eat me. And now she saved me from Malphas' cronies and apparently, I'm not food for her anymore, either."

"I have a few theories about that", Giles let her know, still keeping a safe distance to the demon, "but before we discuss them, maybe you should take her back into the cellar, if she only tolerates your presence, she might get agitated again once the rest comes back downstairs and joins us."

"Good point", the witch had to agree, "okay, let's see if I can get her to go downstairs with me… Pat? You wanna come with me?"

With the last few words, she slowly rose to her feet, relieved when after a moment, the demon did the same; she briefly asked herself if she should try taking Pat's hand, then decided against it and started walking, hearing the sounds of the demon following her behind her moments later.

"Okay, good", she mumbled, not sure if she was talking to the demon or to herself; when she reached the door leading to the cellar, she heard Pat growl lowly behind her and quickly turned to look at her, lowering herself into a crouch before her and reaching out to caress the thick fur once more, her voice low and calming when she spoke on. "Okay, I guess you don't like being down there, but you'll have to, at least for a bit longer, alright?"

She gave the demon a pleading look, and after a moment, the growling stopped, to her great relief; she slowly opened the door and made her way downstairs, with Pat following her after a moment, then, at the bottom of the stairwell, moving past her and settling on the ground, close to where she had been chained to the wall before she had broken free, said chains still dangling from her wrists and ankles.

"You must have gotten really mad", Willow observed as she looked at where the rings which had mounted the chains to the wall had been ripped out of the stone, "that was lucky for me, I guess, or that creature might have won in the end."

She smiled again, then reached out and patted the demon's head a few times; to her amusement, Pat let out another content growl, shifting on the ground as if to make herself comfortable, making the redhead's smile widen slightly before she promised her she'd check on her again soon and made her way back upstairs, all at once not feeling so dejected about the whole situation anymore.


	9. Chapter 9

"So", Giles said a short time later, after they all had made themselves comfortable in the living room, "apparently, Pat's not out to eat you anymore, Willow."

"She's not", Willow confirmed, "she could have done so a thousand times in the last half hour, but… well, she even let me pet her and she followed me downstairs when I told her to."

Nodding, the Watcher smiled at her, then took off his glasses and started to clean them as he spoke up again, his words making the redhead raise an eyebrow.

"As Malphas himself confirmed, it was him who put this spell on her for and through Piretti", he recapped, even though it wasn't really necessary, "so, since he was in the nether realms for a long time before Piretti summoned him, my theory is that his magic isn't as strong as it has been and that the effect is slowly wearing off."

"Are you saying we just have to wait, then?" Buffy wanted to know, surprised, "that sounds quite easy."

"Essentially, yes", Giles nodded, his smile now directed at her, "especially considering Pat's most recent behaviour."

"Can't we speed it up somehow?" Willow wanted to know, asking out loud what everyone else was thinking, "I mean, it's a good thing she's not trying to eat me anymore, or anyone else of us, but I'd like to have her back to normal as fast as possible."

"Also, I'm not so sure she wouldn't eat anyone else if she had the chance", Buffy added, with an apologetic look towards her best friend, "I mean, she still reacted kinda hostile to me when I came back inside after we got rid of those creatures. What were they, anyway?"

"Malphas' servants", Giles let her know in reply, "I find it a bit unsettling that he could call them up despite his weakened state, but the small number of them shows that his strength isn't as big as it used to be before his banishment. And there might be a way to speed Pat's recovery up, the coven is looking into right now, as will I once I am back home and have access to my books."

"Could this Malphas regain his strength somehow?" Xander wanted to know, giving the Watcher a slightly worried look, "what if he does so and renews the spell or something?"

"It might be possible", Giles had to admit, making Willow frown slightly, "but I'll also look into ways to keep him from doing so."

"So will I", the witch decided at once in reply, "now that she seems to get better, we really don't need this pesky demon to make things worse again. How did he get out of the circle, anyway? It was supposed to bind him until we release him again."

"One of his servants destroyed the circle", the Brit responded with a roll of his eyes, "unfortunately before we could try to stop it from doing so."

"Well, you can just summon him again if you need him", Anya shrugged, not all too perturbed by this, "maybe you should do just that to keep him weak, summoning him surely takes strength from him, doesn't it?"

"Unfortunately, summoning him would also give him another chance to send his servants after us", Buffy pointed out, "so, no, bad idea. Those things were really creepy and quite strong, not to mention that the earth goes everywhere when they are killed. It'll take me forever to clean up the kitchen."

"I'll help", the rest, sans Giles, offered in perfect unison; then, they all stared at each other in surprise while the Slayer let out a giggle before she gave the Watcher a strict look and asked him why he hadn't offered his help.

"Because, unlike Xander, Anya and Willow, I'm not living here at the moment", he shrugged at once, an argument which didn't really make sense to Buffy, "and also, I have to get back home so I can start working on the research."

"You do that", the witch nodded at once, "and call me once you found anything, okay? No matter how late it is."

"Call her cell phone", Anya threw in before Giles could agree, "so you won't wake the rest of us up. That would be inconsiderate."

"I'll keep that in mind", the Watcher replied dryly, the ex-demon obviously missing the sarcasm in his voice since she just smiled and nodded; then, she let out a hearty yawn and told the rest of the group that she'd get some sleep now, grabbing Xander's hand and dragging him along upstairs with her after everyone else had said goodnight to them.

"We should get some rest, too", Buffy suggested, with a pointed look at her sister, "you have to go to school tomorrow, Dawn, the fact that we have a crazy demon locked in our basement doesn't mean you can stay at home."

"I was afraid you'd say that", Dawn sighed, getting up from her seat; Buffy smirked at her, then asked Willow if she needed help with readying the couch, looking mildly relieved when the witch shook her head and told her she could do that on her own.

"See you in the morning, then", she told her best friend with a smile, receiving a nod and a wish for a good night in reply; and while the sisters made their way upstairs, Giles left the house after saying his goodbye, the redhead finding herself alone in the living room a minute later.

For a while, she kept herself and her thoughts busy by folding out the couch and preparing it for the night, finding the spare blanket and pillow in the cupboard where Buffy had told her they would be; and once she had gotten done with this, she made her way to the cellar door again, listening closely to find out if Pat was awake before she pulled it opened and slowly made her way down the stairs, smiling slightly when she spotted the demon sitting on the floor, a dully glowing red eye meeting hers.

"Hey", she said, not sure what else she could say as she moved closer to the demon, "apparently, the spell is slowly fading with time, but we'll look into a way to heal you faster, anyway… I want you back, you know…"

She momentarily hesitated as she asked herself if she really could trust her partner enough by now; then, she pushed those thoughts aside and moved even closer and reached out with one hand again, smiling when Pat let it happen without a hint of protest that she placed her palm on her head, even letting out soft purr-like sounds when she started to caress her tenderly.

"You purr?" the witch giggled, barely able to believe her ears, "you never told me you can do that. Shame on you."

To her amusement, the purring became even louder in reply when she moved her hand behind the demon's ear and scratched her there, the way someone else might scratch a dog or a cat; and then, Pat made the comparison happening in her mind complete by actually rolling over and presenting her stomach, making her giggle heartily once more.

"I wish someone was here to take a pic of that", she mumbled as she moved her hand to the demon's tummy and started scratching her there, making the purring noises increase in volume, "I'll tease you endlessly with this once you're back to normal."

To her amusement, Pat let out some sort of low grunt, then apparently had enough of getting her belly scratched, since she rolled over again and settled on the ground; Willow patted her head once more, then let her know that she'd go upstairs and get some sleep now, earning yet another growling noise in reply.

"I'll check on you again tomorrow morning", she promised, coming to her feet again, "so, um… sleep well, okay? I love you…"

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth when her partner let out another purring noise as an answer, briefly making her wonder if this was in reaction to her last words; she took another look at the demon, then finally turned and made her way back upstairs, ready to get some sleep now that she had convinced herself once more that Pat was getting better.


	10. Chapter 10

In the next morning, Dawn and Xander were already up and busy in the kitchen when Willow woke up and moved to join them, after stretching and yawning heartily; the couch wasn't the most comfortable choice for the night, and the last time she had slept on it, it had been together with Pat, the demon's body beneath her making slumbering much easier, but since this hadn't been an option this time, she'd been forced to make do with the couch on its own.

"Hey", Xander greeted her, smiling, "good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"On that couch? Not so much", Willow shrugged, smiling slightly as well though, "but I'll be okay. And is that coffee I smell?"

"Yes", Dawn nodded, "and I'm making ham and eggs in case you're hungry. I only used a bit of the ham we have, I figure your girlfriend might be hungry too down there."

"Probably", Willow nodded, "thanks, that's quite thoughtful."

"How is she doing?" Xander wanted to know in reply, "did she get a bit less growly again?"

"I don't know, last time I checked on her was yesterday before I went to sleep", the redhead replied, "but she was quite calm then… And I found out that she's capable of purring."

"What?" Dawn giggled, making the witch smile slightly again as well, "she purrs?"

"She does", Willow confirmed while Xander snorted as well, "you should have seen it, it was so cute. I kinda scratched her behind the ear and she purred, and then she rolled over so I could scratch her tummy and purred even louder. It was adorable."

"I'll never let her live that one down", Xander decided in reply, smirking from ear to ear while he poured coffee into the cups Dawn had readied, after having added one for Willow, "purring? That's just hilarious."

"It was", the witch agreed with a smile, thanking him when he handed one of the cups to her, "someone has to take a pic of that some time, so she can't claim that we're making this up. Just in case she doesn't remember anything once she goes back to normal."

"Any ideas about that yet?" Dawn wanted to know in reply, adding a rather large amount of milk and sugar to her coffee, "or do we just have to wait until Malphas' spell wore off?"

"According to Giles, that should work", Willow gave back, taking a sip of her coffee before she spoke on, "but we'll look into ways to make it happen faster anyway, who knows how long it might take otherwise. And I want her back as fast as possible."

"Of course", Xander nodded, "if there is anything we can do to help, just yell, alright?"

"Thanks", Willow smiled, "I'll keep that in mind. But now, I better get her breakfast down, or who knows how cranky she might get."

"And we don't want her cranky in her current state", Xander nodded his agreement, "be careful when you go down there, just in case she's not willing to cuddle anymore or something."

"Of course", the witch reassure her childhood friend, briefly smiling at him, "I already got the binding spell prepared just in case she's hostile again, but I hope I won't need it…"

"Well, at least she's been quiet so far", Dawn observed, making the redhead nod; she finished her coffee, then took the pack of ham the teenager was holding out to her and made her way downstairs, smiling slightly when she spotted her partner sitting in the very spot where she had gone to sleep the night before, looking at her with the glow in her eye quite dull again, but to her relief not making a move to attack her.

"Good morning", she said, smiling in what she hoped was a calming way as she held up the pack of ham, "I brought you breakfast. You hungry?"

To her amusement, the demon let out a low growl in reply, then got up from the ground and made her way over to the witch, sitting down in front of her again and looking up at her, momentarily making Willow wonder if her tongue would hang out of her mouth any moment, should she make her wait for the food.

"You know", she started to talk again while she removed slices of ham from the pack and started feeding them to her partner, glad that Pat by now was thoughtful enough to avoid biting her, "you are kinda cute right now, but I'd really prefer to have you back soon. No worries though, we're working on this…"

She lowered herself into a crouch so she was on eyelevel with the demon and went on with feeding the ham to her; after it was gone, she put the empty packet aside, then reached out with one hand again to caress her behind the ear once more, unable to hold back a giggle when immediately, a low purr rumbled from her throat in reaction.

"That's what I mean with cute", she giggled, "purring… just wait, once you're back to normal, I'll ask you all the time to do that. Maybe I'll…" She trailed off when something moved in the corner of her eye and glanced over, frowning when she just could spot the various things Buffy had stowed away down here, along with some dust bunnies; for a moment, she had been sure she had seen something move there, something dark and vaguely humanoid, then she shrugged it off, blaming it on the sunlight which shone in through the windows.

"Maybe I'll make a video of that later today", she went on where she had stopped, "just so I can prove you really did that once you are back to normal."

In response, Pat let out a strangely annoyed sounding snort, making the witch giggle again – before the demon suddenly stiffened, then started to grow lowly in the back of her throat and glanced around, her gaze focusing on the spot Willow had been looking at just seconds ago.

"What?" the witch wanted to know, her heart suddenly beating faster, "what is it? Are you seeing something there…? I thought I did just a minute ago…"

As an answer, the demon started to growl even louder, moving a bit closer to that certain spot; to Willow's amazement, the hair in her neck was standing up, her muscles to visibly tensed that it surprised the witch she wasn't trembling.

"What is it?" she tried again, even though she wasn't sure how Pat was supposed to tell her anything, "why are you—"

All at once, the dark shadows created by the sunlight falling into the room started to move, in ways they shouldn't have by any natural means; shocked into silence, all Willow could do was stare as the shadows seemed to flow together, forming a vaguely humanoid shape – which then moved with surprising speed and, with even more surprising solidity, tackled the witch, throwing her down to the ground with the unexpected force of the attack.

With her eyes going wide, she tried to scream so Dawn or Xander would hear her upstairs and come to help her, hopefully with Buffy in tow; before she could do so though, the figure's hands closed around her throat and squeezed, cutting off her flow of air and making her choke and gag. Behind the shadow creature, she could hear Pat growl and roar, her clawed hands swiping at the thing, to no avail though – they simply passed through as if through a cloud of smoke, the witch's eyes going wide once more as she realized that she'd fall unconscious in mere minutes, shouldn't she be able to come up with a way to get out of this before the lack of oxygen would become too much for her body to handle.


	11. Chapter 11

"I better go check what's going on down there", Buffy let Dawn know in the kitchen, both of them frowning at the sounds of rage they could hear from the cellar, "sounds like Pat is really pissed about something, I better make sure she's not trying to eat Willow."

"That'd be bad", Dawn nodded, looking worried, but not daring to join her sister, knowing she wouldn't stand a chance against an enraged Pat, "it seemed like Pat got less growly, at least with her."

Nodding as well, Buffy made her way to the cellar door and then down the stairs; and at their bottom, she stopped, momentarily stunned into disbelieving silence as she tried to figure out what was going on.

A few feet away, Willow laid on the ground, squirming and gasping for air as the shadowy figure crouching over her was choking her; behind the redhead, Pat still was growling and snarling as she tried to land hits, with no success though, her fists merely passing through the shadowy form, the demon in her current state clearly not smart enough to figure out that it'd be wiser to go for the hands instead of the body.

Finally, the desperate gurgling sounds Willow was letting out as she tried to suck air into her lungs snapped Buffy out of her trance, and she started moving; she had a moment to wonder if Pat would think she was attacking her partner and would try to stop her, then she was next to the redhead and grabbed for the hands which were choking her, managing to get a firm grip on them, only to feel them dissolve into shadows seconds later.

"Dammit, that's fighting dirty", she complained as the figure moved away, tendrils of shadow swirling all around it; she clenched her fists, wondering if she'd be attacked any moment, her eyes narrowing as she waited for the creature to do something, the shadowy figure reacting by moving back even further – before it melted into one of the dark corners and vanished, obviously not willing to fight the Slayer.

"Willow", Buffy said the moment the thing had vanished, hurrying to her best friend's side, "are you okay? What the—" She had been planning to ask what the Hell this creature had been, but before she could do so, a low growl came up behind her, and she found herself face to face with a still rather pissed off looking Pat, gulping as she moved back a bit, even though she couldn't help herself, but just had to smile slightly when the demon sat down on the ground next to Willow, still glaring at her, as if daring her to come closer again.

"Looks like at least her need to be protective of you is stronger than this spell by now", she told her friend, "are you okay?"

"Fine", Willow rasped hoarsely, then coughed, grimacing at the taste of blood in the back of her throat and at how raw it felt, "thanks… you came just in time, Pat might be protective of me, but… let's say she's brighter in her human form…"

"That's a nice way to put it", Buffy nodded, "what the Hell was this thing?"

"I have no idea", the witch sighed after clearing her throat and swallowing a few times, "but we better go look it up, I have a feeling that it connects to our new friend Malphas."

"Probably", the blonde sighed, then almost moved over to the witch to help her up, only to remember the still quite aggravated demon next to her and stopping herself, giving her friend a concerned glance afterwards.

"Um", she then started, fidgeting on the spot a bit, "do you think you can get up on your own? I'd come over and help but… I doubt Pat will let me."

"Wait", the witch gave back, slowly sitting up, then amusing Buffy by grasping her partner's bulky form for support; it took her two tries even with that, but then, she had gotten to her feet and slowly moved over to Buffy, the blonde putting an arm around her waist immediately to support her when she noticed how pale Willow had become and how she was swaying on her feet.

"Uh, Buffy", she started as the blonde started to lead her to the stairs, "I know this might not be the best idea, but… maybe we should take Pat back upstairs with us, what if this thing comes back and attacks her when she's alone down here?"

"Might really not be a good idea", the Slayer agreed after a moment, giving her friend a critical look, "but it's a good point… But what if she bites someone or something? She seems friendly enough with you now, but, well…"

"I'll keep an eye on her so she won't harm anyone", Willow promised at once, glad that the blonde hadn't outright denied her request, "I think she'll be fine as long as she doesn't think any of you wants to do anything to me, and I know you won't give her that impression."

"At least not on purpose", Buffy sighed, well aware of how the demon had growled at her just minutes ago when she had tried to check on the redhead, then shrugging those doubts off though, telling herself that Willow was right and that it'd be too dangerous to leave Pat alone down here as long as they didn't know for sure where that shadow thing had come from and if it might strike again.

"Fine", she thus said to Willow's obvious relief, "let's take her along upstairs then. She doesn't shed on the furniture, does she?"

"No", the witch reassured her, then looked at her girlfriend, giving her best to sound kind, but firm when she told her to come along, smiling again when immediately, the demon came to her feet and trotted to her side obediently.

"Kinda like a doggy", Buffy commented without thinking, then winced and gave her friend an apologetic look, hurriedly speaking on before the witch could say anything. "Um, sorry, I don't know where that came from… that was uncalled for."

"Nah, it's okay", the redhead reassured her, smiling slightly, "you're kinda right. Even though I'd compare her to a cat instead, because she purrs when I scratch her behind the ears."

"Oh my God", Buffy giggled as they made their way back upstairs, Dawn giving them a startled look when they emerged from the cellar with Pat in tow, "really? I can't even try to imagine that."

"Really, I swear", Willow reassured her, and then Dawn had noticed her pale face and the bright red marks on her skin and let out a shocked squeaking noise before she asked her what had happened, making her shrug slightly helplessly.

"Not sure", she then let her know, "some kind of… shadow thing attacked me. Unfortunately, only its hands were solid so it could choke me, so Pat couldn't do much against it."

Next to her, the demon let out a low grumbling noise, prompting Willow to reach up and scratch her behind the ear again, both Buffy and Dawn giggling when moments later, the demon started the purring again, clearly not perturbed by the fact that the two were laughing at her.

"This is too cute", Dawn let the redhead know, already fishing out her cell phone to make a video, "keep doing that, I wanna record it so I can rub it in Pat's face once she's back to normal."

Even though she knew that technically, she should start researching the shadowy figure as fast as possible, Willow smiled and nodded, keeping up the scratching as Dawn started filming; to the teenager's amusement, the demon even lowered herself down on all fours after a while to give Willow easier access, purring even louder as the witch went on with moving her fingers through the fur.

"Alright", Buffy finally said, making her sister look at her, "that's enough now, I admit this is really cute and hilarious, but we got work to do."

"Indeed", Willow agreed, pulling her hand back while Dawn stopped filming, making sure the video had been saved to the phone afterwards, "I better call Giles and tell him about this, even though I already know what he'll tell me."

"That it was something sent by that demon?" Dawn hazarded, shrugging at the surprised look Buffy shot her in reply.

"What?" she then wanted to know, shrugging again, "it makes sense, doesn't it? Willow summons the demon guy, he gets pissed off at her, tries to have her killed, it doesn't work, so he tries something else."

"You've been hanging out too much with us", Buffy sighed, shaking her head, "already figuring such things out at such a tender age."

"I'm not that young anymore", Dawn protested while Willow, deciding to ignore their bickering, made her way to the landline phone and picked up the receiver; she quickly dialled Giles' number, hoping he'd be home as she put order into her thoughts so she'd give him a proper description of what had happened, still quite sure that she already knew what the Watcher's answer would be.


	12. Chapter 12

Author's Note: My update schedule is completely messed up this week XD Since I'm not gonna be home tomorrow night, here we go a day early again. Enjoy!

* * *

"I'm afraid your assumption is correct", Giles let her know ten minutes later, after having put the phone aside for a moment to check something in the book where he had found the initial description which had led them to Malphas as the culprit, "my book here says that he has the ability to summon shadow beings to do his bidding. It seems as if you made him really angry when you summoned him, Willow."

"Just my luck", Willow sighed in reply, shaking her head, "but is there anything we can do about that? I don't want to end up being scared of my own shadow just because he might use it to send such a creature after me again."

"I'll look into it", Giles promised her in reply, making her smile slightly as she pondered how he always came through for the gang, no matter what information they needed, "a protective spell, perhaps… Also, your sunlight spell might come in handy to dispel those creatures."

"That might work", the witch agreed, "I'll ready a batch of the powder I use for that… Anya will be happy about the business she'll make."

"Probably", Giles agreed, and she could practically hear the smile on his face, "even though I keep telling her that she shouldn't charge you for Slayer-related business."

"In this case, she'd probably tell me it's not Slayer-related, but Pat-related, so she's right to charge me", Willow sighed in reply, making the Brit chuckle slightly; she allowed herself a smile as well, then asked him to call her the moment he'd find anything useful, saying goodbye after he had reassured her that he would and ending the call.

"He'll look into a protection spell", she then told Buffy as the Slayer gave her a curious look, "and he suggested my sunlight-in-a-bag spell until he found something, that might dispel the creatures."

"Makes sense", Buffy nodded, "if they are made of shadows, bright light should scare them off. Do you need stuff from the Magic Box to make that powder?"

"Well, yes", the witch gave back, "I was thinking about going there now, since Anya's there already, why do you ask?"

"Um, well", the Slayer gave back, now appearing a bit nervous and choosing her next words wisely since she didn't want to upset or offend her best friend, "I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to go there as long as Pat's not locked up in the cellar, I mean, she's calm now that you are here, but who knows if that'll stay this way, you know?"

"Good point", Willow had to admit, giving the demon a concerned look – she was peaceful now, lying next to the couch the redhead was sitting on and glancing up at her with a dull red glow in her good eye, but the witch didn't want to imagine what might happen if she'd leave and Pat would have some sort of freak out.

"I got an idea", she let the blonde know after a moment of thinking about this, "I'll write down what I need and you can get it for me? Would you do that?"

"Of course", Buffy reassured her at once, smiling, glad that the witch hadn't taken offense from her words, "just give me the list and I'll be off faster thank you can say 'Thanks, Buffy'."

"Thanks, Buffy", Willow smirked in reply, giggling slightly when the Slayer rolled her eyes in reply; then, she quickly found a pen and paper, writing down what she'd need before she dug out her wallet, only to frown when Buffy shook her head.

"No need for that", she then told the redhead, "I'll convince Anya to let us have that for free."

"Good luck with that", the witch dryly replied, "you know we've tried that a thousand times by now."

"I know", Buffy nodded, "but she's been staying here the last few days, so I'll use that as leverage. I'll hurry and be back soon."

"Alright", Willow smiled, "and good luck with the leverage thing. Take care."

Nodding once more, Buffy smiled back at her then took the list of ingredients from her and reassured her once more that she'd hurry before she left; by now, Dawn had headed off for school and Xander had gone to work, the Slayer's departure thus leaving Willow behind alone with her girlfriend, a small sigh escaping her as she glanced down on the demon.

"Let's hope Giles will find some answers soon", she then told her, still not sure how much Pat actually was understanding of the things she was telling her, "you might be quite cuddly in that form, but I really want you back, you know?"

She let out another sigh, then made herself smile at her partner as she reached down to scratch her behind the ear again, even managing a small giggle when a content purr was the answer again, the demon shifting on the carpeted floor afterwards to give her better access.

"Cute", she commented, "but still not as cute as your less furry form of appearance. Once you're back to normal, you'll have to take me out on a nice date to make up for that, you know?"

She smiled as she spoke, not fully serious about that; for a few more minutes, she kept up the scratching, then patted the demon's head a few times before she pulled back and got up from the couch, figuring that she might as well spend time with her own research while she'd wait for Buffy to come back.

"You know", she told Pat as she got one of the occult books she had brought along from her bag and moved back to the couch, making herself comfortable there, "I really wonder why Malphas got so pissed off when I summoned him that he even sent his shadowy minion after me. Just because I didn't have a proper sacrifice at hand? Talk about having a small ego."

To her amusement, the demon let out a low snorting noise in reply, as if she was agreeing with her; she briefly smiled at her, then focused on the book again, only to jump when a few minutes later, the couch trembled as Pat unexpectedly moved from the ground and on it, ending up next to the witch, making her involuntarily hold her breath as she waited to see what the demon would do next. By now, Willow was quite sure that her lover wouldn't attack her again anytime soon, but she wasn't fooling herself into believing that she was completely safe, not with a more or less wild demon around; thus, she kept the binding spell ready in the back of her mind as she watched how Pat moved on the couch slightly, her eyes going wide moments later when the demon settled down at last – in a way that made her head come to a rest in Willow's lap, a content grunt coming from the demon as she found a comfortable position for the rest of her body and laid still.

"Oh my", the redhead finally giggled, once she could be more or less sure that Pat wouldn't suddenly freak out and bite her in the legs or something, "that's just… too cute. I'll never let you live that down, I promise."

Shaking her head, and still giggling, she forced herself to focus on her book again, even though that was made considerably harder by the warm weight of the demon's head in her lap; still she kept her eyes on the pages, skimming through the information on them as she looked for answers, not wanting to waste too much time on irrelevant pieces of the text.

"Nothing really interesting in here", she told Pat after a while, moving one hand down to caress her behind the ear again since she seemed to like this so much, "and now I can't even get up to choose another book."

To her surprise, no reply came this time, neither purrs, nor grunts; frowning, she looked down, only to be forced to hold back a giggle moments later as she realized that apparently, her lap had been comfortable enough to let Pat drift off into sleep, the demon now slumbering soundly.

"Jeez", she then mumbled, "this just keeps getting cuter and cuter. Too bad no one's around with a camera now to snap a pic of this."

Shaking her head, she focused on her book again, figuring that going through it once more couldn't hurt; and while she did so, she kept up scratching her partner behind the ear, the demon soon snoring audibly in reply, making her smile again as she pondered that at least, Pat wasn't hostile towards here anymore, something which made this whole mess much more bearable.


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note: I'm not sure I'll be home tomorrow in time to update (really busy this week), so here we go again a day early. Enjoy! :)

* * *

Almost an hour later, after Buffy had come back with the ingredients and Willow had been forced to wake Pat up so she could start working on the powder for the sunlight spell, the witch performed the last few touches to the magical mixture she had prepared; even though she had grumbled at first after being woken up, Pat had settled down at her feet again, once more reminding Buffy of a dog or a cat, the blonde unable to hold back a slight smirk as she watched the demon, then shrugged when Willow asked her why she was smiling.

"No offense or anything", she answered, looking up at her best friend again, "but this is just too much, she's acting like some kind of pet."

"I know", Willow agreed, smiling slightly as well, "and even though this may sound odd, I'm glad about it, pet-like Pat surely beats angry Pat."

"But nothing beats normal Pat", Buffy said out loud what her best friend was thinking, "so I hope Giles will find something soon."

"Me too", the redhead sighed, "as cute as this is, I miss her… Not to mention that she doesn't shed on my pants when we cuddle while she's normal."

"And I imagine kissing her is easier, then, too", Buffy gave back, then grew serious as she reached over and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, making her smile weakly again. "Seriously though, I can imagine how difficult this must be for you… And you're handing this quite well so far."

"I hope it'll stay that way", Willow replied, finishing with the powder at last and pouring it into the little leather pouch she always used to store her magical ingredients, "freaking out won't help her or me, and if Giles figures out some spell to… help her, I'll need to be calm to cast it, or I might make things worse."

"And we really don't want that", Buffy agreed at once, not even wanting to imagine how that "worse" might look like, with images of Pat being stuck in that form forever or maybe acting fully hostile again dancing through her mind despite her tries to keep them away, "because we all prefer her as regular Pat, not halfway evil demonic pet-type Pat."

Nodding her agreement, Willow gave her another smile, then tied the leather pouch to her belt; for a few moments, they both were silent, then the demon let out a snort beneath the table and made them both jump – before they exchanged a startled look, then giggled, the redhead still smiling when she spoke up again a few moments later. "You know, I keep wondering if I should take her out for a walk, so she won't get bored or something. Probably not a good idea though."

"I guess not", Buffy gave back at once, "people might look the other way with a lot things here in this lovely town, but if you lead a six foot two demon through the streets on a leash, even they will stare and maybe call animal control."

"On a leash?" Willow giggled, unable to keep the mental images from forming in front of her inner eye, "I know what Pat would say to that if she'd be normal enough to make a comment."

"Something along the lines of 'are you insane'?" Buffy wanted to know, her eyes going wide moments later at the redhead's nonchalant reply. "Probably more something like 'kinky'."

"Um", the Slayer replied, at a loss for words; at her stunned reaction, the witch let out another giggle, then the phone rang and interrupted their banter, Willow getting up so fast that she nearly threw her chair over and making the blonde look at her in surprise.

"I hope that's Giles", she explained her over-enthusiastic reaction, "with some good news."

"Keeping my fingers crossed", Buffy gave back, smiling again; returning the smile, the witch nodded, her heart beating faster when she looked at the caller ID and saw that it was indeed the Watcher calling.

"It is him", she told Buffy, giving her best to remain calm; she quickly pushed the button which took the call, then held the phone to her ear, managing to sound surprisingly normal despite the excitement she felt all at once, suddenly sure that Giles had found something useful.

"I may have found a solution for your problem", the Watcher let her know after he had told her something she already was aware of, namely that it was him calling, "I have to warn you though, it is quite dangerous and might give Malphas new strength to send his minions after you again."

"I don't care", Willow replied at once, "just tell me what I have to do and I'll do it. If the spell works and it gets Pat back to normal, she'll protect me anyway, even if he sends his tree-and-earth-things again."

"A good point", Giles agreed, "and I didn't expect any other answer from you, so I already prepared everything you'll need. I'll be there after sundown again so we can summon him once more."

"Alright", Willow gave back, smiling, "see you later then." The Brit voiced his agreement in reply, then told her to take care until then before he ended the call; putting the phone down again, the redhead let out a heavy breath before she focused on her best friend again, giving her best to hold back the giddiness that was taking hold of her when she told her what the Watcher had said.

"You heard that?" she then said to her partner, crouching in front of her so they were at eye-level, "maybe you'll be back to normal soon."

"Um", Buffy suddenly realized a quite important fact about the possibility of Pat turning back to her human self, "maybe you should put some clothes on her then? Or she'll end up naked in our backyard if she changes back."

"Oh, good point", Willow had to agree as she straightened up again, her eyes briefly going wide as she imagined how embarrassed her partner surely would be – not because of her, but the thought of ending up naked in front of Giles and Buffy surely wouldn't appeal to her.

"I'll go and see if Xander has anything she can wear", Buffy offered, already rising from her seat, "but you'll have to make her put it on, I doubt she'll let me get close enough to do that."

"Alright", Willow nodded with a smile, "an oversized t-shirt and jogging pants should do, nothing with buttons, I don't want to have more of a hassle with this than necessary."

Nodding as well, Buffy hurried upstairs, to the room where Xander and Anya where staying until they could move into their new apartment; and while she waited for her friend to come back, Willow knelt down next to Pat and started running her hand through the soft fur again, smiling as she spoke softly to her, telling her once more that she'd be back to normal soon and that things would be fine.

* * *

Once again, Giles had put up a circle of light blue candles in the backyard and had brought along a small bag of marigold petals; unlike the ones he had provided for the first summoning though, these were dried and brown, not the healthy yellow the fresh ones had been.

"Any reason why they are dried?" Buffy wanted to know, eying them curiously and thus missing the grateful look Willow was sending her way – as a witch, she figured that she should know such things, but had no idea at all about that.

"Yes, there is a reason", the Watcher now let her know, smiling briefly at her, clearly pleased by this interest she was taking in something she normally didn't care much about, "dried petals give him much less strength when summoned. Unfortunately, I only found this out recently, or we could have used them for the first summoning already."

"Well, better late than never", Willow shrugged, taking the small bag from him, "alright, here we go then…" She briefly glanced at where her partner sat on the ground, seemingly uninterested in what the three were doing, then took in a deep breath as she stepped closer to the circle; just like during the first try to summon the demon, she started walking around it and dropped the petals to the ground as she did so, calling out to Malphas and commanding him to bend to her will once more.

"Damn you, witch", the demon snarled after he once more had appeared in a ball of light, though it was much less bright this time than it had been last time, again taking the form of a crow, "you dare call to me again without a proper sacrifice?! Have my last two attacks on you taught you nothing?"

"Obviously not", Willow replied, hoping and praying that what Giles had come up with would work – before she took in a deep breath and stepped into the circle, grabbing the crow around the throat with one hand and holding the other out to her partner, glad when Pat got the hint and moved up to her obediently – even though grabbing demons in the circles to which they had been summoned was highly dangerous, this had been the part she had been worried about the most, not sure if she would have been able to take Malphas out of the circle when the demon wouldn't have come to her.

"Insolence!" the demon cried out, the beady little eyes going surprisingly wide, "unhand me at once, witch!"

"No", Willow replied coldly, "first, you'll turn my partner back to normal." And with those words, she placed her hand on Pat's head, then took in another deep breath as she concentrated; for a few seconds, she could feel Malphas' raw power flow through her as she worked as a catalyst for it, then a loud bang echoed through the quiet backyard and a bright flash of light blinded her as she got thrown backwards, landing a few feet away, hearing Buffy cry out in shock while Malphas cawed in outrage.

"Willow!" Buffy repeated her cry as she hurried to her friend's side while in the circle, the crow was slowly fading, the dried petals clearly doing their job and keeping him from staying on this realm any longer; he still had time to threaten the three that this wasn't over yet and that they would pay before he vanished, but the redhead didn't even pay attention to him, too busy with coming to her feet before Buffy could do a thing to help her up and stumbling to where Pat laid, the demon growling and snorting lowly as she struggled to get back on her feet, as well.

"Pat", the witch panted out, sending a prayer to anyone who might listen that it had worked, "Sweetie… Are you…"

Before she could finish her question, the demon let out another low grunt – before she clenched her fists and, to the witch's amazement and happiness, started to change back, grumbling in the back of her throat as she did so, Willow, Buffy and Giles watching in stunned silence how she returned to her human form, all of them only now fully realizing that it had worked.

For a few moments, everything was quiet as they all waited to see how Pat would react, now that she had her humanity back, and if her emotions had returned, as well; then, the black haired woman's gaze focused on Willow, the witch holding it in breathless silence – only to let out a surprised, but happy squeak seconds later as the demon had rushed over to her and pulled her into a fierce embrace, holding her so close that she nearly had trouble breathing.

"Thank you", the taller woman hoarsely whispered in her ear, her voice trembling just enough to let the redhead notice, "thank you, oh jeez, I love you…"

"I love you too", the witch gave back, feeling so happy that it was almost choking her, "I'm so glad to have you back…"

"I'm glad to be back", the taller woman reassured her, then let out a shaky breath, Willow realizing with alarm that she was trembling; before she could ask her what was going on though, and if she really was okay, Pat kept her from saying another word by bending down and kissing her quite passionately, blowing all thoughts out of her mind as she fully realized how much she had missed it to feel the black haired woman's lips on hers.

Behind them, both Giles and Buffy politely looked away, the Slayer beaming happily at the elder man and mouthing "Good job" at him; he smiled back at her, then cleared his throat, not really surprised though when the couple simply ignored him and went on kissing, the witch's hands by now entangled in her partner's hair while Pat still had the smaller woman in a firm embrace.

"Let's give them some privacy", Buffy whispered to the Brit, making him nod after a moment, "we can talk about our demonic friend's threat after they celebrated that spell working out properly."

Nodding again, Giles made his way back inside with the blonde, something which neither Pat nor Willow noticed; finally, when she felt as if she'd pass out from lack of oxygen any moment, the witch had to pull back, breathing noticeably heavier, something she saw mimicked by her partner when she looked at her, smiling as she reached up to caress her cheek tenderly.

"I'm so happy this worked out", she told the taller woman, her heart still racing in her chest, even though it was a pleasant feeling this time, "Giles wasn't sure it would…"

"Well, I'm really glad it did", Pat let her know, her voice still trembling slightly, making Willow wonder if she really was okay as she wanted her to believe, "because… well, let's say the last few days weren't… pleasant."

Immediately, Willow sensed that there was much more to it than this rather tame description; she knew her partner well enough though to be aware of the fact that tries to push her into talking would only serve to make her even more stubborn and thus just nodded, grasping her hand and squeezing it tenderly as she held her gaze.

"Come on", she said with a gesture towards the house, "we should go back inside, I bet Buffy and Giles are waiting there to discuss what to do next, Malphas is surely quite pissed off at me now."

"I'll rip him apart", Pat replied at once, her usual confidence returning remarkably fast, "for threatening you, and for what he… did to me. And you."

"Well, if he appears in his crow form again, you won't have trouble with that", Willow gave back, making a mental note to herself to keep a close eye on her lover – clearly, she was back to the way she had been before the spell had hit her, but it was obvious to her that something was bothering her, and she vowed to herself to be there once the taller woman would feel the need to share her thoughts.

"We'll have crow for dinner then", the demon grumbled, making the smaller woman grimace at the thought – before she smiled again and pulled her lover down for another kiss, a slow and tender one this time, but still with passion in it, her eyes sparkling when she looked up at the taller woman afterwards.

"We better go inside now", she mumbled, wrapping a strand of red hair around her finger as she went on, "or Buffy and Giles will think we're doing the naughty out here."

"Can't say I don't like the thought", Pat replied at once, not really surprising her partner, but still prompting her to roll her eyes in response; a well-known smirk appeared on the black haired woman's face in reply, then she bent down for another kiss, quick and innocent this time, before the couple finally headed inside where Giles and Buffy were already waiting for them in the living room, ready to discuss how Malphas and his threat should be handled.


	14. Chapter 14

"I'll cast a protective spell which will alert us in case anyone tried to enter", Willow let her friends know a short time later, sitting on her partner's lap while Pat had made herself comfortable on the couch, her arms around the witch, "like the one I used back then when Glory was after Dawn, remember?"

"Oh yes, the alarm spell", Buffy nodded, "good idea. Even though it'll probably give me a heart attack if he tries to send someone in at night and it starts bleeping or whatever it does."

"A sound like a bell ringing", Willow explained in reply, "and it is quite loud, so we might end up startled, yes."

"At least we'll be awake then", Pat commented, shrugging when Buffy raised an eyebrow at her, her voice dry when she spoke on. "What? You know it's true. Nothing wakes you up like a hellishly loud ringing bell."

"I really missed those dry, sarcastic statements", Buffy gave back, with a genuine smile that showed her words were meant kindly, "it's good to have you back."

"Good to be back", Pat smirked, "and thanks. I hope I wasn't too much of a nuisance."

"Nah", the Slayer reassured her at once, "you only ate all our ham. Oh, and you made holes into my cellar walls when you tore out those chains to rescue Willow from the evil mini-ents."

To her slight concern, Willow felt the demon stiffen beneath her at those words, just long enough to let her notice; then, she relaxed again, nothing of her momentary tenseness in her voice when she replied and reassured Buffy she'd help with repairing the damage she had caused.

"No hurry", the blonde gave back, "for now, we should focus on taking out that demon. Giles, can we even take him out?"

"More or less", the Watcher replied, "if we manage to… destroy the form of appearance he takes in our world, it at least should weaken him enough so we can banish him back to the nether realms."

"Sounds good to me", the witch nodded, "do we need any special ingredients for a banishment? More marigold, perhaps?"

"No", Giles replied with a smile, "we'll just need some salt and a rather simple, but possibly tiring spell. If you want me to, I can stay here tonight and assist with the spell, I'm quite convinced that Malphas will strike fast, before his strength fades away again."

"That sounds too easy to be true", Pat remarked, shrugging once more when the Watcher shot her a look over the rim of his glasses, "and don't look at me like that, Giles, I mean, some salt and a bit of magic and that's it? I thought that demon would be more powerful, after what he did."

"Well, the fact that he already has been banished once makes a second banishment much easier", the Brit explained in reply, "you, as a demon, should know such things, Pat."

In response, the taller woman just shrugged, making Willow smile slightly before she cleared her throat, gaining the attention of the others; she let them know that she'd go and put up the alarm spell now, making them nod their agreement while Buffy came to her feet, as well, giving her Watcher a smile before she spoke up again. "And I'll go and find some place where you can sleep, since Xander and Anya are using the second bedroom and Willow and Pat are gonna take the couch. Are you fine with a sleeping bag in my room?"

For a moment, Giles frowned, then apparently shrugged off any doubts he had about this and just nodded; and while Buffy set off to find said sleeping bag and ready it for the new guest in the house, Willow got the ingredients she'd need for the alarm spell from the box of magic stuff she had brought along, not surprised to find Pat outside when she stepped out the front door minutes later, the taller woman smoking a cigarette and thoughtfully looking off into the distance.

"Hey", Willow greeted her, moving closer to her and smiling calmingly at her, "you okay?"

"Yeah", Pat let her know after a moment, giving her a smile that just was brittle enough around the edges to let her notice, once more making her wonder what the taller woman was hiding from her, "just re-building the nicotine levels I need to function properly."

"You were doing quite fine until now", the witch pointed out, smiling back at her, "but I know you're a junkie about those cancer sticks, so I'll let it pass. Honestly, I'd rather have you smoke twenty packs a day for the next ten years than deal with your… less cuddly, furry version again any time soon."

"I didn't hurt anyone, did I?" Pat wanted to know in reply, frowning, making Willow ask herself if this was what had been bothering her while she smile and shook her head, stepping closer to her and embracing her as she answered, the task she had come outside for the moment forgotten.

"No, you didn't", she reassured her partner, her smile widening when the taller woman put one arm around her and started caressing her back, "at least none of us. You saved me, in fact."

"I remember that", the demon gave back, to her obvious surprise, the look on her face making the black haired woman smirk a much less brittle smirk at her, "well, at least, I kinda do. It's all kind of… fuzzy."

For a moment, she looked as if she wanted to say something else, but then remained silent, causing Willow's worries for her to grow a bit; still the witch didn't ask her anything though, well aware that, once Pat would be ready to say anything, she'd do so, and that trying to pressure her into talking before that point, even with gentle pressure, would lead nowhere.

"Well", she thus said instead of asking her again if she was okay and if anything was bothering her, "I'll get started on that spell then, so there won't be any nasty surprises during the night."

"Am I in the way?" Pat wanted to know in reply, looking around as if she expected an outline for the spell to appear out of nowhere and answer her question; amused, Willow reassured her that she could stay where she was, then asked her to be quiet so the spell wouldn't be messed up as she pulled a surprisingly large and thick leather pouch from her pocket, briefly making the demon wonder how she had managed to fit that thing in there in the first place.

"Just try not to step into the powder while I'm spreading it", the redhead now distracted her from that question, "cause then I would have to start over."

"And we don't want that", the taller woman stated, making her partner nod; she still took the time for a quick kiss, then started walking in a large circle around the front yard, spreading the powder on the grass as she did so, the demon watching with interest, never having seen that particular spell before. Of course, she knew that it existed, and that Willow had performed it before; after all, her girlfriend had told her about the threat Glory had been to the group and especially to Dawn, about how Buffy had died saving her sister and the world, and about the pain they all had gone through afterwards.

For a moment, she wished to get her hands on the mad goddess, anger flashing up within her; then, she pushed that feeling back down, telling herself that Glory was gone, had been dealt with long before she even had come to Sunnydale, at the same time remembering the anger she had felt continuously during the last few days, locked up in… She derailed that certain train of thought quickly, before it could go any further, and focused on her partner again; had Willow looked at her now, she would have seen the brief look of pain and fear on her face, but since she was focused on making a perfect circle with the powder, she missed it completely, unaware of her lover's inner turmoil as she continued her work.

"There", she mumbled after she had finished the circle, "almost done…" She briefly closed her eyes as she recalled the exact words of the spell, then quickly said them under her breath, smiling when the powder started to glow brightly right after she had said the last word – and then sank into the ground, leaving a shining line in the form of the circle she had made which remained for a few seconds, then faded away into nothingness.

"Impressive", Pat commented, lighting up yet another cigarette and making the witch wonder how much she actually had missed smoking while she had been in her unfortunate feral state, "how do we know if it works?"

"We do because it did what it's supposed to", Willow explained in reply, tucking the leather bag back into her pocket as she made her way over to the taller woman, "if I'd done something wrong, the powder wouldn't have vanished."

"Oh", Pat gave back, not all too smart, making the redhead smile slightly, "I see. Well… good to know. Now we can sleep easily."

"Yes", Willow nodded, her smile widening when after a moment, the black haired woman pulled her into a one-armed embrace; she snuggled up to her and let out a small, content sigh when her head came to rest against her chest and she could hear the calm, steady heartbeat of her partner.

"I'm happy I'll get to sleep in your arms again tonight, you know", she let her know after just enjoying the embrace in silence for a while, "I really missed that… missed you… during the last few days."

"I'm happy I don't want to eat you all anymore", the demon replied, making her partner giggle slightly, "and that I'll sleep in a bed tonight and not on the floor of Buffy's cellar."

"Aww", Willow cooed at once, "I imagine that can't have been all too comfortable… But I have to disappoint you, we'll sleep on the couch, not in a bed."

"I can live with that", Pat shrugged, taking another drag of her cigarette afterwards; still smiling, the redhead just nodded in reply, then waited until her girlfriend had finished her smoke before she suggested that they should go back inside now and see if they could convince Buffy that it was time for dinner, making it Pat's turn to nod her agreement as they headed back inside together.


End file.
